The Promise of Grace in the New Year

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”
-Hebrews 10:23

The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
- John Newton, Amazing Grace, verse 4

Q. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.
- Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question and Answer 36

“We shall bring our Lord much glory if we get from Him much grace. If we have much faith, so that I can take God at His Word…I shall greatly honor my Lord and King.”
- Charles Spurgeon, quoted in John Piper’s Future Grace, p. 9

“In other words, on the basis of the work of Christ, the power of the redeemed future has been released to act in the present in the person of the Holy Spirit.”
- N. Q. Hamilton, The Holy Spirit and Eschatology in Paul, quoted in Anthony Hoekema’s, The Bible and the Future, p.58

Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

To say that 2008 was a tumultuous year is a colossal understatement. What can we expect from 2009? Will this next year be more of the same? Will it be better? Or will it be worse? One thing we can be assured of is the faithfulness of our covenant-keeping God no matter what this next year holds. For some of us this new year will bring extraordinary trial and for others extraordinary blessing, and for all of us there will be an opportunity to prove God’s faithfulness again and again. The Cross stands as the declaration of God’s intention and commitment to show us His favor. In the brutal death of His Son and the Son’s subsequent resurrection everything that could be used for our harm will only redound to our good. This is not some perverse prosperity theology. Because of the sin-bearing satisfaction of Jesus Christ, God has promised good to us. No matter what comes in 2009 we mustn’t waver, because He who promised is faithful. Listen to the God-exalting, Son-crucifying, grace-magnifying love the Father has for us,

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:32-37)

Expecting an abundance of God-exalting grace in 2009,

Dan

Our Obscure King

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

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
- Luke 2:12

O little town of Bethlehem

How still we see thee lie

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight

For Christ is born of Mary

And gathered all above

While mortals sleep, the angels keep

Their watch of wondering love

O morning stars together

Proclaim the holy birth

And praises sing to God the King

And Peace to men on earth

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given!

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear His coming,

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him still,

The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem

Descend to us, we pray

Cast out our sin and enter in

Be born to us today

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell

O come to us, abide with us

Our Lord Emmanuel

- O Little Town of Bethlehem, Phillip Brooks


Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

We received an email this morning from some dear friends in Starbuck, Washington. Starbuck is an obscure little town, barely a spot on the map that is located about forty miles east of Walla Walla. There aren’t very many people in Starbuck. In fact you need to know what you are looking for even to find it. There is one store and a gas station and even those are closed during this winter weather. Most of the folks either work in agriculture, for the government, or they are unemployed. With the latest weather front in the Northwest, Spokane and Portland get all the news. No one knows or cares about Starbuck.

Years ago in an obscure agricultural village something amazing happened. The King of Kings was born in an obscure backwater town named Bethlehem. Consider that the Ruler of all became a newborn baby that was laid in a cattle stall in an obscure agricultural community. There was no fanfare and no press release. The only witnesses were mom and dad and some farm animals. Eventually some shepherds, some traveling magicians, and some angels came to herald the birth, but for now it is only obscurity. As far as the world was concerned it was just another night in an unimportant village.

Many times the glory of the gospel comes to obscure places, and in obscure times, and to obscure people. This is the mystery of the work of the Spirit under the sovereign hand of God. The gospel most often comes without fanfare, press releases, and attention. This gospel often comes to the unlikeliest of people and in the unlikeliest of places. It will not always be this way. The day is coming when this King is recognized and worshipped by all.

It is a joy for me to look back on this past year. I can see where God has been at work without fanfare and in obscurity. Rejoice, the King has come to obscure and needy sinners like you and me.

Rejoicing in our Glorious Savior at Christmas,

Dan

An Encouragement to Us Scrooges from R.C. Sproul

Dear Christ Our Redeemer Friends and Family,

I spent part of yesterday at Target, my all-time least favorite store. I think there’s too much red around and it serves to irritate the customers, at least in my case! Judy and Nathanael were trying to do a bit of Christmas shopping and I ended up in the food court sending a few emails from my Blackberry. If I’m not careful Christmas shopping can bring the Scrooge out in me. This time of year it can be very easy for me to slip into ‘Bah Humbug!’ syndrome. My friend, Mark Lauterbach, who pastors a Sovereign Grace church in San Diego called my attention to this recent post on Ligonier Ministries’ website (http://www.ligonier.org/blog/2008/12/marleys-message-to-scrooge.html). I’ve included it for you below and I’ve already read it several times. I am always provoked by R.C. Sproul and this has helped me in my perspective this Christmas. There is great reason for us to rejoice. In the Incarnation God has met our greatest need.

Scrooge thoughts begone! Joy to the World, the Lord has come!

Dan

Marley's Message to Scrooge
December 8, 2008 @ 7:30 AM Posted By: Tim Challies
by R.C. Sproul
"Bah! Humbug!" These two words are instantly associated with Charles Dickens' immortal fictional anti-hero, Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge was the prototype of the Grinch who stole Christmas, the paradigm of all men cynical. We all recognize that Ebenezer Scrooge was a mean person - stingy, insensitive, selfish, and unkind. What we often miss in our understanding of his character is that he was preeminently profane. "Bah! Humbug!" was his Victorian use of profanity. Not that any modern editor would feel the need to delete Scrooge's expletives. His language is not the standard currency of cursing. But it was profane in that Scrooge demeaned what was holy. He trampled on the sanctity of Christmas. He despised the sacred. He was cynical toward the sublime. Christmas is a holiday, indeed the world's most joyous holiday. It is called a "holiday" because the day is holy. It is a day when businesses close, when families gather, when churches are filled, and when soldiers put down their guns for a 24-hour truce. It is a day that differs from every other day. Every generation has its abundance of Scrooges. The church is full of them. We hear endless complaints of commercialism. We are constantly told to put Christ back into Christmas. We hear that the tradition of Santa Claus is a sacrilege. We listen to those acquainted with history murmur that Christmas isn't biblical. The Church invented Christmas to compete with the ancient Roman festival honoring the bull-god Mithras, the nay-sayers complain. Christmas? A mere capitulation to paganism. And so we rain on Jesus' parade and assume an Olympian detachment from the joyous holiday. All this carping is but a modern dose of Scroogeism, our own sanctimonious profanation of the holy. Sure, Christmas is a time of commerce. The department stores are decorated to the hilt, the ad pages of the newspapers swell in size, and we tick off the number of shopping days left until Christmas. But why all the commerce? The high degree of commerce at Christmas is driven by one thing: the buying of gifts for others. To present our friends and families with gifts is not an ugly, ignoble vice. It incarnates the amorphous "spirit of Christmas." The tradition rests ultimately on the supreme gift God has given the world. God so loved the world, the Bible says, that He gave His only begotten Son. The giving of gifts is a marvelous response to the receiving of such a gift. For one day a year at least, we taste the sweetness inherent in the truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive. What about putting Christ back into Christmas? It is simply not necessary. Christ has never left Christmas. "Jingle Bells" will never replace "Silent Night." Our holiday once known as Thanksgiving is rapidly becoming known simply as "Turkey Day." But Christmas is still called Christmas. It is not called "Gift Day." Christ is still in Christmas, and for one brief season the secular world broadcasts the message of Christ over every radio station and television channel in the land. Never does the church get as much free air time as during the Christmas season. Not only music but the visual arts are present in abundance, bearing testimony to the historic significance of the birth of Jesus. Christmas displays all remind the world of the sacred Incarnation. Doesn't Santa Claus paganize or at least trivialize Christmas? He's a myth, and his very mythology casts a shadow over the sober historical reality of Jesus. Not at all. Myths are not necessarily bad or harmful. Every society creates myths. They are a peculiar art form invented usually to convey a message that is deemed important by the people. When a myth is passed off as real history, that is fraud. But when it serves a different purpose it can be healthy and virtuous. Kris Kringle is a mythical hero, not a villain. He is pure fiction -- but a fiction used to illustrate a glorious truth. What about the historical origins of Christmas as a substitute for a pagan festival? I can only say, good for the early Christians who had the wisdom to flee from Mithras and direct their zeal to the celebration of the birth of Christ. Who associates Christmas today with Mithras? No one calls it "Mithrasmas." We celebrate Christmas because we cannot eradicate from our consciousness our profound awareness of the difference between the sacred and the profane. Man, in the generic sense, has an incurable propensity for marking sacred space and sacred time. When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, the ground that was previously common suddenly became uncommon. It was now holy ground - sacred space. When Jacob awoke from his midnight vision of the presence of God, he anointed with oil the rock upon which he had rested his head. It was sacred space. When God touches earth, the place is holy. When God appears in history, the time is holy. There was never a more holy place than the city of Bethlehem, where the Word became flesh. There was never a more holy time than Christmas morning when Emmanuel was born. Christmas is a holiday. It is the holiest of holy days. We must heed the warning of Jacob Marley: "Don't be a Scrooge" at Christmas.

Seeing with Clarity for the First Time

“…the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”
-John 3:19-20

“…the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."
-Matthew 4:16b

Dear Christ Our Redeemer Family and Friends,

The gospel is good news for darkness-loving sinners. When God gives sight to the blind light dawns where only darkness was known. In the Incarnation God has turned on the light of the gospel for those whose entire world was comprised of darkness. All we knew was blindness accorded by a world of inky blackness. All we knew and loved was the comfortable envelope of blackness. Several years ago I remember reading a National Geographic article about creatures that live in the depths of caverns. A picture showed a salamander whose eyes has become completely blind because its home was in the depths of darkness. This world was all it knew and its eyes had become useless orbs. Day after day after day no light had broken in to bring functionality to the eye. The salamander knew no difference. Blackness was its home and Its world was one of devoid of all light. In the gospel God has brought light to us. We did not see, nor could we see, nor would we see. We had become acclimated to darkness, because it is all we had ever known. This was the environment we knew and loved. And when the first rays of light come we squint and rub our eyes straining to see for the first time. Could it be that we’ve been so blind for so long? It is as if we’ve entered a whole new world. In the Incarnation God brings light into our darkness. For once in our lives we begin to see with clarity, and this is because God brought light into our darkness.

Grateful for the Light that has come in the Incarnation,

Dan