Christmas 2012

This past Sunday we kicked off the Christmas season by looking at the significance of Advent. The word advent speaks of something coming. In a Christian sense it refers to the coming of the Christ child, of God stepping out of eternity and taking on human flesh, of God stepping out of heaven to walk among men. God taking on human flesh is often referred to as the incarnation.

This is an amazing time of year when much of the world celebrates Christmas. Even with all its commercialization, the word Christmas itself speaks of Christ. How can Christmas be so familiar to so many and yet its true significance so distant?

The four Sundays in December and Christmas Eve constitute the Advent Season. For each of the four Sundays in December, and on Christmas Eve, we will light an additional Advent Candle. This past Sunday we light the first candle which represents HOPE. Each Sunday we will light an additional candle representing PEACE, JOY, LOVE, and finally on Christmas Eve, we will light the CHRIST candle.

The light of the candles symbolize the illumination of Jesus Christ in our lives.
Lighting a candle is a simple, yet profound act. It is a testimony to the power of light over darkness. (Rev. Dr. Mark Roberts)

This past Sunday we talked about HOPE. Hope is an integral part of our Christian life and our walk with God. It is intimately entwined with our faith.

"But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor 13.13).

Some interesting aspects of HOPE that we looked at on Sunday ...

        Hope is the assurance that God will finish all He has started in our lives.

        Hope is our confidence that God will do all He promised.

        Hope is the expectation of a favorable future under God’s direction
                (Harper’s Bible Dictionary).

        Hope is the opposite of seeing and possessing something ...
"For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees" (Rom 8:24)?

        Hope begins at the point of our faith in who God is (not what God does for us).

        Hope is our guarantee that what God has begun in us through Christ, will be completed at our resurrection.

        Hope links us between that part of our salvation we already possess and that which we have yet to take hold of (i.e. our physical resurrection).

        Strong hope leads to strong faith.

        Hope is something alive, it has life ...
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Pet 1:3).

Christ must always be the object of our hope. False hope is hope in anyone or anything other than God. We celebrate God coming in the flesh, the Christ child, and the hope that brings into our lives. In our understanding of Advent there is great hope for every person who decides to hide his life in Christ (Col 3:3–4). The picture of the manger and the incarnation cannot be separated from the crucifixion. The reason Jesus became flesh and lived among us was to reveal God to the world through His life. That life would also include His suffering, death, burial, and ultimately His resurrection. Today we celebrate not just God coming in the flesh in the form of a baby, but also His ...
        suffering, death, and resurrection, and His return as a triumphant King who will vanquish all evil.

Take hold of HOPE!