December 19, 2021                                  Text:  Micah 5:2-5a

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Why Bethlehem?  In less than seven weeks Beijing, China will host the 2022 Winter Olympics.  The result of cities all over the world submitting bids to the International Olympic Committee.  It is quite a convoluted process.  It began in 2012 and by 2014 the field was down to three finalists:  Oslo, Norway; Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing.  Along the way Oslo withdrew citing the massive expense – especially the self-serving stipulations of the IOC members.  Eventually Beijing won over Almaty 44-40, but controversy reigns because of the human rights abuses of the Chinese government.  Let’s be honest, it is a messy scene of political shenanigans that picks an Olympic city.

    And why Bethlehem?  What was the selection process by which God located the event that climaxes not just four years of anticipation and ten years of preparation, but an eternity of planning that changed the world forever?  We have no idea.

    But God in his eternal wisdom always had this little town circled on his map.  While Nineveh and Babylon and Rome battled it over the centuries for world supremacy – each thinking they were the center of the universe – God always knew “the hopes and fears of all the years” would meet in little Bethlehem.  

    As we study our text from Micah it is reminder of how God sees each of us – personally, individually circled on His world map, in our towns, in our homes.  As we stand on the cusp of Christmas isn’t it nice to know that we . . .

“DWELL SECURELY”

    While it is hard to get an exact population on Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth, most scholars have it in the 300-500 range.  Today the city has about 25,000 citizens.  We all have a birthplace and for Jesus it is Bethlehem.  

    In the days of Micah the people were not dwelling securely in their homes or in their town.  Judah and Israel were in a constant state of war.  Nearby Jerusalem is besieged.  The rulers are shamed and exiled.  Citizens are dispersed and famished and at the point of despair.  Nobody wants to hear any more news because it is all bad.  They stop their newspaper subscriptions.  They want to be safe and live in peace and dwell securely in their homes.  

    That is a universal theme of men and women living in the world.  We want to be safe.  We want peace.  We want the sanctity of our homes to be where we can dwell in both of these places.  How is that going for you?

    Violence does reign all around us.  In the killing of 62 million babies.  In the streets of big towns and small towns.  Maybe within our homes where people don’t get along.  

    Do we have peace in our hearts when our country endorses same-sex marriage, degrades marriage, and limits religious freedom, and we struggle to speak God’s Word to such wickedness?  

    We can’t just blame all these problems on things outside of ourselves.  The claim that men and women can achieve security, peace, and righteousness in their hearts has proven false in generation after generation.

    Anthony Esolen has written:  “Here is our situation, as I see it.  We are called to bring the love of God to what has largely ceased to be a human culture.  We preach not to the old idolaters who were seeking God but got him wrong.  We preach to people who have sunk beneath idolatry; who have strangled liberty with liberty, acknowledging no laws but those they make themselves…who have, as Solzhenitsyn’s peasant said, ‘forgotten God,’ and who have as a consequence forgotten man.” 

    Where do we find peace and security?  It’s back to Bethlehem!  “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah…from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel…he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  And he shall be their peace.”

    What great love God has expressed in sending his very own Son to that little town, to be born to such an insignificant young girl into such a fallen and violent world.  Born to die such a violent death for us his war makers that we might be redeemed.  

    From Bethlehem He creates in us new hearts.  Our evil hearts are reborn and renewed in God’s free gift of a Savior.  As Christians we enjoy this peace and security.  We dwell in safety because Christ dwells with us and in us.  “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  

    Why Bethlehem?  God’s wisdom, He always does the unexpected.  The town is important on the world map.  You are important on God’s map.  He has placed you there as a forgiven child of God.  He shepherds your direction.  He grants you heavenly peace.  You dwell secure all because of a birth in Bethlehem.  I enjoyed the visit.  I pray you did too.                 Amen.  

December 12, 2021                        Text:  Zephaniah 3:14-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

    “A Wish For Christmas.”  “A Very Merry Mix-Up.”  “The Sweetest Christmas.”  “Heart of the Holidays.”  “Christmas In Tahoe.”  “An Unexpected Christmas.”  “Next Stop Christmas.”

    Those titles are a day in the life of the Hallmark Channel.  All having something to do with Christmas.  But if you read the bio of the website of each of these selections there is not much of Christ or His birth or why we have Christmas in the first place.  Now I am not pooh poohing movies like these.  They are better than a lot of television.  In fact, when they started showing these movies in October, I told Toni that Hallmark figured in our disagreeable, one side of the fence or the other culture we live in, everyone could use the good feeling of Christmas.  Something most of the world still celebrates.

    What gets missed is Jesus.  Oh a family may go to church or sing a hymn or two but the salvation story of the Babe in Bethlehem is nowhere to be seen.  In our text from Zephaniah the people were also missing the message.  The book is a whole lot of judgment.  We also though have the reminder that God did come down here . . . 

“THE LORD IS IN YOUR MIDST”

    The Lord wants us to have a reason to celebrate.  The people of Zephaniah’s day had a lot of sinful rebellion – the reason for God’s judgment.  The Lord was angry and He let them know it.

    Does God ever get angry with you?  When we fail to live up to His expectations do we think He is happy about it?  When we tear His name asunder in our speech does it tear His heart?  When we stay away from his house where He offers the greatest of gifts does He shed a tear?  When we shun our prayer life and don’t talk to Him is He offended?  It is hard to imagine.  Can the Lord be like us?

    We shouldn’t even be talking this way.  The Lord is far superior to man and our emotions that we almost can’t believe it.  God does not treat our sins as they deserve.  He cares for us as His own.  God is not against us.  We offend Him but He doesn’t take offense.  Look at our text, “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies.  The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.” (v. 15)

    This is what happened when the sin-atoning Jesus came to our world.  God in the flesh went from Babe in Bethlehem to crucified Savior.  From a cherry cheeked infant to skin being torn while beaten.  From sucking at his mother’s breasts to a few drops of wine vinegar to quench his thirst.  From active young boy to “It is finished.”  Zephaniah said of him in verse 17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.”  He saved us from the words we say.  He saved us from shunning Him in our worship.  He saved us from ignoring him in our prayers.  He has forgiven all of these faults and many others.  The Lord is in our midst and what joy that brings.

    Being in our midst means that when we hear the Scriptures the Word is here.  The Word that became flesh to dwell among us.  Being in our midst means that the resurrected Christ is here in body and blood to pardon our failings.  We get a glimpse of heaven at the Communion rail.  Our full restoration will come at Christ’s Second Coming but we can celebrate now in anticipation of what we know is already ours.

    When we have baby showers and wedding showers we are celebrating before the celebration.  We await the birth with gifts.  As the married couple looks forward to their vows before God we give them gifts in anticipation of their new life together.

    Zephaniah talks about a celebration before the actual event.  He uses words like “sing aloud,” and “rejoice” and “exult.”  He is writing that the Lord is taking away his judgments against the people.  Why?  Because even during those centuries of the “first Advent,” Zephaniah was certain that the baby, the Messiah, was coming.

    We have assurances that are firm.  We are called to celebrate not only what God is doing right now, but also what we know with the certainty of faith He promises yet to accomplish at the end.  Even at a funeral, the death of a loved one, there is an anticipatory celebration for the Christian.  We come to that service knowing that like those at a baby or wedding shower something good is still ahead.  We know that those who die in Christ have gone to be with Him – which is far better.  More than this, they will also rise again on the Last Day.

    Celebrate this Advent/Christmas season as Zephaniah reminds us to do because the Lord is “rejoicing over you with gladness and he is quieting you with His love.”  The Lord is in our midst and the celebration goes on.

                                    Amen.