2021 Reading Plan

I have made a conscious effort since I was a pre-teen to build my life around daily habits and disciplines of the mind, body, and spirit and to work toward specific goals. I don’t make new year’s resolutions, per se, but I do use the monthly, quarterly, and yearly calendar as opportunities to evaluate my routines and plans and make adjustments where appropriate. For several years this has included planning and organizing my reading each year. While I have general targets each year for how much I read, the focus is on what and how I read.

Most years I read well over 100 complete books. This is only a percentage of my total reading since on any given week I may read a few hundred pages of essays, journal articles, and excerpts from commentaries and other books that I do not read entirely. I have found it difficult to log reading minutes or pages since I am constantly reading throughout the day. I listen to audiobooks when I drive and run, I read a Kindle in bed until I fall asleep, and I keep a book with me throughout the day so that I can grab a few pages here and there between other activities. I only log complete books, not ones I only read part of or skim. This is admittedly arbitrary since some articles and essays I read each year are longer than some of the books recorded. The shortest book on my log may only be 90-100 pages. The longest will be over 1,000. Of course, page size, font size, and formatting also makes a difference. I tweak the rules for my log from year to year, but I have found a simple list of the complete books I read serves me best. No one ever sees it except me, and if the rules are admittedly arbitrary, I find it helpful and encouraging. It reminds me of what I’ve read, learned, and enjoyed each year and helps me plan and improve in the future.

I have used categories to organize my reading for some time, but in 2021 I plan to be even more aggressive with my targeted reading. I plan to read 90 books in 10 specific categories with the remaining 10+ books being free electives. The plan is to read 12 works of theology, philosophy, history, and classics, one from each category every month for a total of 48 in the year;  8 works on current events; 4 on ministry, 4 biographies, 4 related to personal development (including linguistics), and 4 foreign language titles; and at least 18 of those I re-read every year or two.

This may be overly ambitious. I have never attempted to assign this much of my total yearly reading. But if I do not reach my goal, I have no doubt the plan and attempt will help me focus and accomplish more than I might have otherwise. I am not reading to complete a challenge but because I love reading and because I want to learn, grow, and enjoy the life God has given me.

“Life is, to be sure, more than reading, but it is still not complete without our being ready to lose ourselves in a book that delights us….

“Not a day passes in which we did not learn something we might have learned. There is nothing necessarily tragic about this, unless we think we are gods. Yet, we would be a little inhuman were it not unsettling to realize that we might easily have learned something but did not take the opportunity to do so.” 

--James Schall, The Life of the Mind, 110

Using Technology Intelligently

I resisted getting a smartphone for years and still resent having one most days. It’s not that I am anti-technology. I’m not. I am grateful for the many ways technology makes our lives easier and more comfortable. My smartphone is much more than a phone. I use it every day to listen to audio books and sermons, study languages, read Scripture and digital books, and pray. I prefer doing most (all) of these things without a smartphone, but I can’t deny that having my entire Kindle library in my pocket, listening to hours of audio content while driving in the car, and being able to look up the Greek or Hebrew text of a passage without returning to my library is very convenient.

Technology can be a great blessing, but it has largely taken over most people’s lives. It wasn’t that long ago that communication required a physical letter or phone call. Now almost everyone has a cell phone in his pocket. Text messaging allows instant contact. Most people check their email repeatedly throughout the day and have it also on their smartphone. With social media feeds, direct messaging, and almost constant notifications, it is not surprising that most people keep their phone in their hand or closeby throughout the day.

Put down your phone and look around for a minute. Almost everyone is looking at their phones. Even if they ought to be focused on something else, chances are their phone has at least part of their attention. Every day I see people driving with one hand while holding their phone with the other, and not because they have it beside their ear. They are looking at it. Maybe some of them are looking at GPS. How many do you suppose are replying to a text message? I have. How many are viewing social media? How important will that Facegram post seem after you crash into another car, or worse, run over someone’s daughter? I tend to people watch when I take my wife to dinner. I ought to be paying attention to her; instead, I am fascinated by how many couples are sitting at the same table and separately looking at their phones. This is social interaction? How often will my attention be diverted if I keep my phone on my desk while trying to write or have my email open in another browser tab? This is focused, creative labor? When was the last time you spent an extended period of time without a phone, tablet, or electronic device? The phone screen is the last thing many people look at in bed at night and the first thing they look at when they wake up in the morning.

We need a more intelligent approach to technology, and that begins by assessing how we actually use it and how often it is using us instead. Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism is an excellent resource for thinking deliberately about technology, especially social media and smartphones. There is more I want to say on this topic in the near future, but here I want to offer a starting point and make a few suggestions.

1. Use Technology that Adds Value to Your Life, Reject Technology that Robs Value from Your Life

How many of the apps on your phone actually add value to your life? How many of them support your values, goals, work, and recreation? You might be surprised how few of those apps you use regularly. Most people have far more downloaded and installed than they frequently access. You may also be surprised how much time you spend on your social media apps, Internet browser, and YouTube. It’s not that much, you may say, but most smartphones have some kind of reporting option which might cause you to rethink that claim.

I don’t use social media, but when I had email, YouTube, and an Internet browser on my phone, I was constantly tempted to check it. If I was standing in line for a few minutes or waiting for a meeting to begin, it was easy to grab my phone and look for new emails or see what videos had been uploaded to the channels I follow. But how often is an email so urgent and so important that I have to read and respond to it immediately? You may think your email is far more important than a pastor’s could be, and that may be true. But do you really need your inbox to be accessible 24/7?

I decided almost a year ago to remove email and YouTube from my phone. There was a brief adjustment period, but I have never regretted it. I left a browser app because sometimes I need to look something up, especially when I am away from home. But I enabled a timer that shuts down the browser after thirty minutes of use each day. Internet on my phone is now a tool, not a toy. It serves me rather than entangling me so that I serve it. I always carry a book with me anyway, so now while I am waiting, I don’t have to decide whether to look at my phone or read a few pages. I have limited my options so that my behavior is more consistently drawn to those activities that best align with what I most value and enjoy.

Do an audit of the technology you use on a regular basis. How much is actually contributing value, and at what cost? Having a social media account may help you connect with friends in other places, but is having the app on your phone distracting you or consuming time that might be used more profitably? Is social media the best platform for the kinds of social connection you are seeking? Might your peace of mind, use of time, and personal growth be enhanced by having fewer technologies in your life and using the ones which you keep in a more deliberate way? This may mean only accessing social media from your computer and removing it from your phone, or it might mean eliminating certain types of media and technology altogether. You have to decide what kinds of technology will best serve you, and you cannot know how to decide that until you know how much of it you are consuming.

2. Erect Boundaries to Prevent Technology from Intruding on Contemplation, Creativity, Community, and Calm

Your smartphone has a “Do Not Disturb” and “Airplane Mode” feature. The former will silence all notifications, phone calls, and text messages except those you choose to allow when the setting is enabled. Your phone also can be turned off. Believe it or not, the world will not end, your family will not implode, and your work (probably) won’t be adversely affected if you shut off your phone, tablet, and laptop from time to time.

It isn’t necessary to entirely remove a particular technology or allow it 24/7 access to your life. God made human beings as image bearers to exercise dominion in created space. We exercise dominion by developing new technologies; we also exercise dominion by making it behave. It is your responsibility to decide how much freedom these technologies have in your domain. When you are constantly available whenever your phone beeps or chirps, you are not the master; you have become a slave. You can only be as distracted as you allow yourself to be. Your phone and Internet connection have no more power than you give them. Unfortunately, many people in the western world have surrendered most of their waking hours and much of their conscious attention to their smartphone and online platforms. These may be smart technologies, but our use of them is dumb.

Be intentional about creating zones in your daily schedule for contemplation (i.e. deliberate thinking), creativity (i.e. composition, music, crafts, cooking, or similar activities), community (i.e. social interaction with specific individuals), and calm (i.e. quiet time when you can escape noise and other demands). Once you have these zones scheduled, develop rules about what technologies you allow into these spaces. You may find that note-taking software or an app for capturing ideas or a music app (without ads) for soft background music is helpful during contemplation. Times for creativity may also be enhanced by music, or there may be specific technologies useful at such times such as a video on how to prepare a recipe or a language-learning app for study and practice. Community might include video chats through Google Hangouts, Skype, or Facetime, but social media posts and direct messages are not real personal engagement which should involve, whenever possible, tone of voice, facial expression, and body language cues. Calm will almost always mean turning off or leaving at home all electronic devices unless you find yourself so stressed that you need a white noise app or guided meditation to quiet your mind and detach from distraction. You have to decide for yourself what rules make sense in these areas, but the point is you should have rules in order to master technology and not be mastered by it.

3. Create Buffer Zones and Deliberate Delays in Communication without Sacrificing Accessibility in Emergencies

Most of us are now so accustomed to being available by phone and text message that we forget it wasn’t always so easy to get in touch with someone. It wasn’t that long ago that if you needed to make a call on the road, you had to pull over and find a payphone. Now we act as if the fate of the world depends on our checking a text message while navigating a car at 70 mph. Smartphones have made us dumb, in more ways that one.

You don’t have to be as available as modern technologies condition us to be. But what if there is an emergency? What if my wife or children need me? I understand the feeling. I am on-call at a local hospital for end of life issues, and as a pastor, it isn’t uncommon for me to be contacted by those in crisis. But none of these needs are new, only the means by which we are now constantly accessible. If we’re honest, most of us rarely have the kind of personal emergency calls that require us to be available at a moment’s notice, and even when we do, a delay of 15 minutes to a few hours would not make a significant difference most of the time.

Most phones have features that allow callers to break through a Do Not Disturb setting by calling back immediately if they do not get an answer. You can designate which caller’s text messages and phone calls will be instantly identified even if you have Do Not Disturb turned on. Others may choose to leave their phone in Airplane Mode or in another room most of the time or during specific hours of the day and only check it periodically for any missed calls or important text messages. These kinds of buffers are especially important if you want to do deep work and focus on particular tasks or knowledge work. (For more on deep work, I highly recommend Cal Newport’s book.)

How much more focused and calm might you be if you treated your smartphone like a landline or used it the way many of us formerly used a pager and payphones? What if you treated your email inbox more like your regular mailbox? Instead of leaving it constantly open, what if you only visited it once or twice or five times per day? Would your work really suffer if you checked email once an hour instead of every five minutes? Would the quality of your correspondence deteriorate if you composed replies in a word processor and sent longer replies one hour or four hours or one day later rather than sending an immediate response?

Your specific situation might require different guidelines for communication than someone else. You may have to communicate with other people about anticipated delays and recondition their expectations. But most of us would benefit from thinking and acting more intentionally when it comes to communication technology. How available do we really need to be, and how much better might our communication be if disciplined by responsible guidelines?

4. Think Carefully Before Adding New Technology to Your Life, and Consider Balancing Each Addition with a Corresponding Subtraction

We are regularly informed of new websites, new apps, and new services that promise to solve more of our problems and make our lives better in every way. The only problem is, these promises are not true. Sometimes a new technology really will improve the quality and efficiency of our lives. Much of the time they simply add more clutter and distraction.

When our young children find something they want or think they absolutely have to buy with their money, we put it on a waiting list. Depending on the nature of the item and how much it costs, they may have to wait seven or thirty days. If they change their mind or waver in their decision during the waiting period, the timer resets. This has often saved us from buying something that seemed indispensable at one moment and proved to be irrelevant just a few days later.

A similar method can be useful in evaluating new technologies. Put the new app or website or service you think you need on a waiting list. If it still seems essential or highly useful in a week or two, give it a test run. Try it out for a week or four and then re-evaluate. Is it adding value or clutter? Has it proven to actually improve your life and processes or only distract your attention and consume more of your time?

Most of us tend to collect and accumulate stuff. We purchase new shirts but never get rid of the old ones. We are given new items for the house, but none of the older household goods ever seem to go out the door. It is good to collect memories, friends, and books. Collecting useless, distracting, and expensive technologies is wasteful, foolish, and sometimes may even be harmful.

Why not instead eliminate one technology for every new one that is added? How many Internet browsers are on your smartphone? Most people have at least two, the one that came preloaded and another they prefer and downloaded. How many apps do you have installed that are designed to do the same thing? Applying this question to myself, I might ask, how many Greek New Testament apps does one pastor need? Sure, different apps and sites and services provide different features, even if they may be overlapping. But do you really need subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu and YouTube Premium and cable or satellite TV? Really? How much of your time do you want to spend watching videos? The answer for most people appears to be: a whole lot.

Most of us desire to have more and newer models and better features of whatever we enjoy. Our natural greed and materialism is the fuel which drives many industries and keeps us buying more stuff we don’t really need. But what if we thought carefully about what will best serve our goals and interests? What if we waited before acquiring? What if every addition we made was offset by a corresponding subtraction? There is no doubt that reducing stuff helps also reduce stress. Whether it is clutter in our home, on our calendar, or in our digital life, eliminating and simplifying can greatly enhance one’s peace of mind.

Conclusion

None of the aforementioned suggestions are meant to discourage use of technology. I am profoundly grateful for the comfort and convenience most of us take for granted and all of us enjoy thanks to technological developments in many sectors. Technology is a tool. It is amoral, neither inherently good or bad. The question is how we use it. Like every tool, it can be leveraged for good or evil. A screwdriver is great if you need to turn a screw, and it can serve admirably as an icepick. It’s not as good if used as a chisel, and it is basically useless if the task is painting a house. Technology is a tool, and therefore it requires an intelligent craftsman, someone who knows what it’s for and when, where, and how to use it most effectively. If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, every problem tends to look like a nail. When the only tool in your pocket is a smartphone, don’t be surprised if you find your face stuck to it for much of the day. Put your phone on silent or consider turning it off, and carry a book with you instead. You may be surprised at how much more you learn and how much more peaceful you feel about your day. --JME

Singing Prayer with the Ancient Church

I love the Psalms: praying them, singing them, and reading them every day. The Psalter is the prayer book God gave his people. It is a liturgical resource, a collection of sung prayers to guide OT Israel and the New Covenant Israel of God in daily worship, both corporate and private. I am not an exclusive psalmodist, but the Book of Psalms is indispensable in my own commitment to and habits of personal devotion and weekly celebration of the Lord’s Day. It is the framework and primary substance of my daily prayer, contemplation, and devotion. As much as I value, am committed to, and recommend systematic daily Bible reading, if I had to choose between a general Bible reading plan and praying through the Psalms each month, I would choose the latter, every time, without hesitation, and without question. In praying and singing the Psalms, we are singing with God’s people in all generations.

The Psalms are prayers, and they are meant to be prayed, not just read. The Psalms are not like the rest of Scripture. There are psalms in other parts of the Bible (e.g. Hab. 3; 1Sam. 2:1-10; Lk. 1:46-55), and all of Scripture can (and should) be prayed in one way or another (e.g. Dan. 9:1-3; Eph. 3:14-21). But reading through the Book of Psalms is not merely to be devotional reading. It is not inappropriate to read the Psalms as you read other chapters of the Bible, but this ought to be an exception rather than the rule. It is not the way the Book of Psalms was designed to be used. We are to pray our way through the Psalter, and for most of the last 3,000 years, that has meant singing the Psalms, reverently and regularly, from beginning to end.

The Church is commanded to sing the Psalms (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16), and even if theologically orthodox hymns written by uninspired men are admitted, the inspired hymns we have in Scripture--including psalms outside of the Book of Psalms and New Testament canticles (e.g. 1Tim. 3:16; Rev. 4:8, 11; 5:9-10, 12, 13)--ought to be the foundation of the Church’s regular and perpetual praise. Unfortunately, this is not the case in many congregations. Psalm-singing is unfamiliar to many believers, and when they are first exposed to it, the practice may seem strange and be very uncomfortable. Christians who are accustomed to singing the same seven words eleven times while a rock band plays on Sunday may have difficulty adapting to the more robust theology of Psalm 33, 88, 109, or 139.

Most Christians have sung at least some of the psalms or portions of them. Musical arrangements of Psalm 23 are well-known, and Psalm 19:7-11 has often been sung as an aid to memorizing it. Isaac Watts paraphrased many of the psalms and wrote other hymns based loosely on the language of the Psalter, so even those who have never sung the Psalms deliberately will be somewhat familiar with portions of it if they have any experience with traditional Christian hymnody.

As a minister in a Reformed church, I serve a congregation that is committed to singing (all) of the Psalms, not just paraphrases and adaptations (though we sing those too). Half of our hymns in morning and evening worship every Lord’s Day are psalms from the OT. The Reformed tradition has usually sung the Psalms in metrical arrangements. The 1650 Scottish Psalter arranged each of the 150 psalms into a common meter form (8.6.8.6). Since most people already know many common meter tunes--whether they realize it or not--you can easily sing the entire OT Psalter using one or more familiar tunes (although Yankee Doodle Dandy the theme from Gilligan’s Island are not the most dignified choices for psalm singing). Our congregation sings from the Trinity Psalter Hymnal which contains 278 psalm renditions. This includes translations of all 150 OT psalms as well as other historical arrangements, paraphrases, and selections. It is a tremendous resource for corporate, family, and private worship. There are many other metrical psalters that have been published and many free versions can be accessed online or through smart phone apps.

Metrical psalm singing is not difficult, and for those who are familiar with traditional church hymns, the transition to or incorporation of metrical psalms in worship will not be too challenging. But there is an easier, more ancient, more accurate way to sing the psalms, the way they have been sung among the Jews and in all churches until the last five hundred years, the way they are still sung in the majority of psalm singing, liturgical communions. Psalms are meant to be chanted, which is how singing was done in the ancient world.

The type of singing we are familiar with today is a relatively modern development. The invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century and Martin Luther’s hymn writing in the sixteenth century helped modern hymn singing to develop and be widely adopted in Protestant churches. Isaac Watts’s hymns and adaptations of the psalms in the seventeenth century led most Protestant congregations to eventually move away from the Church’s historic dependence on the Book of Psalms, scriptural canticles, and ancient hymns in corporate worship.

There is not just one way to chant the Psalms. The Jews used very simple chants to sing the Psalms in ancient times, and that type of chanting continues to be used to the present day. The ancient Church’s earliest chanting may best be preserved in the Byzantine or Eastern Orthodox tradition where chanting remains the way in which prayer and praise are sung to God. Gregorian chant is the best known form of monophonic, plainchant used in the western Church, and it grew and changed in many ways between A.D. 500-1000. The later Anglican tradition created even more sophisticated and beautiful chants than the earlier plainsong versions. Traditional Lutheran churches also use a simple form of chanting to sing and pray the Psalms which can be learned quite easily from the Lutheran Service Book, Concordia Psalter, or through several resources online (cf. my favorite is HERE).

The Church has always chanted the Psalms because that was the way they were originally meant to be sung--in fact, it was the only way anything was sung for many centuries--and because plainsong is (relatively) easy to learn and accessible to all believers, even those without a printed psalter or musical training, even those who are illiterate. The easiest way to demonstrate this is by using a simple, monophonic chant. Select a note that is easy for you to maintain on a piano, keyboard, or simply by humming. Then chant the first line of one of the psalms while keeping your voice at that pitch. On the last 1-3 syllables of the line, raise the pitch of your voice slightly while keeping it in a comfortable range. Now do the same thing for the second line of the psalm, using the original reciting note, and on the last 1-3 syllables slightly lower the pitch of your voice while keeping it in a comfortable range. There are more sophisticated ways to chant the Psalms and many established chants you can learn, but this is the basic practice. You can also learn how to chant by repeating lines of the psalm one at a time as someone who knows how to sing the chant leads you. Earlier this year Joseph Svendsen, a professor of music at UNLV and Choir Director at a Missouri Synod Lutheran congregation, began uploading tutorials and helps for chanting the Psalms to YouTube. His videos are the best I have seen for the Lutheran chants which are much simpler and easier to learn and sing than Anglican, Byzantine, or many more sophisticated Gregorian forms.

God means us to sing and pray the Psalms. He gave us the Psalter for this reason, and as we do so, we are using it in the same way the Lord Jesus did. The Psalms are ultimately the songs of Jesus. He is the righteous man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly (Ps. 1) and who can dwell on God’s holy hill (Ps. 15). He is the King enthroned on Mt. Zion (Ps. 2), the righteous sufferer whose death was followed by resurrection and gospel proclamation to succeeding generations (Ps. 22). Whether you chant, sing metrical versions, or use arrangements which conform to modern tunes, when you sing the Psalms you are singing and praying with the catholic (universal) Church. --JME

Christmas Eve (2020)

Luke 2:21-40, 51-52: Waiting for the Salvation of the Lord

Introduction

There are five parts to our text this evening, five episodes we want to observe, relate, and apply in our meditation on the Lord’s Incarnation. The first is Jesus’ circumcision on the eighth day after he was born. The second is the presentation of Jesus at the Temple forty days after his birth when his parents brought him and completed the rites for Mary’s purification according to the Law. The third is the encounter with Simeon. The fourth is the testimony of Anna. The fifth is Christ’s submission to his parents and growth in wisdom and stature over the first thirty years of his life.

What do these episodes have in common? Each of them relate in some way to the theme of waiting. Jesus’ parents wait until he is eight days old to circumcise him as the Law commanded. They waited until he was forty days old to go to the Temple for the presentation and purification rites, again, as the Law required. Simeon was “waiting for the Consolation of Israel.” Anna was waiting to die having been a widow devoted to prayer and fasting for a very long time. And Jesus waited in Nazareth--obeying his parents, learning a trade, and submitting to authority as a child-- until the day arrived for his public ministry to commence. All of these episodes involve waiting for the next step in God’s work of salvation.

As the Church of God we also are waiting for the next step in the Lord’s plan. We wait for the coming Messiah as Israel did for so long, but rather than waiting for his first Advent, we await his return. Like Anna we wait and watch with prayer and fasting. Like Joseph and Mary we practice obedience to God’s law while waiting to see what will happen next. Like Jesus we rest in the Father’s sovereign plan without resisting, protesting, or neglecting our duty here while we wait. This is the Church’s posture and practice following in the footsteps of our Lord. The saints have always been waiting for the next phase: whether exodus from Egypt, conquest of the land, return from exile in Babylon, Messiah’s appearance, or the everlasting kingdom. So on Christmas, we look back on Christ’s birth and look ahead with hope to his return.

Waiting to be Circumcised (21)

Why did Joseph and Mary wait 8 days to circumcise Jesus? That’s easy. Because the Law of Moses said to. But why did God require families to wait 8 days? Some of you are going to give me a biological answer. A baby’s clotting mechanism is warming up during the first week of their life, and it would be dangerous to perform a surgical procedure (without an injection of vitamin K) during that time. Fair enough. But this is like saying dietary laws in the OT forbade pork because it is high in saturated fat. Who made it that way? And does God not care about our cholesterol in the New Covenant?! The Lord could have made newborn babies with fully functioning blood clotting systems, or he could have made a special dispensation so that circumcision was safe to perform in the first week. He didn’t. The wait was intentional, and God always has his reasons. We may not always understand them. We may not be able to explain them. But he has them. Never doubt that.

What were you thinking about during the first three days after your child was born? “This is the most beautiful baby in the world. Yep, five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. I’m so glad that’s over. I’m never doing that again. How can I take care of this baby? Am I ever going to sleep through the night again?” Those first few days might not be the most ideal time for one of the most special, sacred, and spiritually significant events in the family’s life. So God made parents wait. What do you think couples thought about as the day of their son’s circumcision drew near? Were they thinking about the promise God made to Abraham? The covenant that defined their identity and purpose? The Law which ruled and regulated every facet of their lives?

Many of us don’t like waiting because it makes us think. Waiting for surgery or a doctor’s appointment or the birth of a child or for our older kids to come home fills our minds with all kinds of thoughts, good and bad. Waiting is an opportunity to meditate on what is meaningful, to direct our thoughts to what is good, right, and true. What was Mary thinking about for the week prior to Jesus’ circumcision? Actually, Luke tells us (v.19). She was thinking about who her Baby was.

Waiting to be Purified (22-24)

The OT Law gave specific instructions for a mother’s purification after childbirth (Lev. 12). This does not mean childbirth was regarded as sinful in any way. Unclean does not mean wicked in the OT law. You would be unclean for attending a funeral or making love to your wife. The point was to teach the Israelites holiness in every part of life. There is no neutral space, and Yahweh is Lord of labor and delivery and postpartum recovery just as he is Lord of the Temple and worship. But the Law required a sin offering and burnt offering for atonement and consecration. Why? Because even our best deeds, even our most natural and normal acts, are tainted and defiled by our sinfulness. If even our repentance and prayers are imperfect, how much more the delivery of our children?! The offerings were a sign that God had to cleanse every aspect of life and that childbirth was consecrated to God in order to produce godly offspring.

The flow of blood resulting from childbirth made a woman unclean and restricted her from participation in the Temple and corporate worship for a time. But this was not a punishment but a time of waiting and reflection. The mother had participated in God’s work of creation by carrying a new image bearer in her womb for the last nine months. The birth of that child had come with a painful reminder of the curse of sin and that mankind no longer lives in Eden. This was not only a time to rest and physically recover but a time to reflect upon the covenantal and redemptive aspects of the child’s birth. God was Lord there also, and the sacrifices at the end of the period affirmed it.

We may not offer sin offerings or burnt offerings in the same way today--more on this next year--but the same principle of God’s Lordship applies to us. And just as Joseph and Mary waited for the day of her purification and Jesus’ presentation at the Temple, so we are waiting for our sanctification to be complete and for the day we are presented as holy and righteous in the presence of God by the sacrifice of Christ. We are waiting for purification and presentation just as this family did. It’s something to meditate on as you celebrate Christ’s birth and its theological significance.

Waiting for Israel’s Consolation (25-35)

Simeon and Anna deserve to have more than just a few minutes in a Christmas Eve service to expound the verses where they appear but time will only permit a few observations tonight. Simeon was a man of the Spirit. Did you see how often the Holy Spirit is referred to in vv.25-27? He was a man filled with the Holy Spirit and guided by the Spirit. The Lord had made known to him that Messiah would appear in his lifetime, and the clock was ticking. We don’t know how old Simeon may have been, but the hymn of praise he offers sounds like a closing number in the story of his life. This was the climax, not whatever may have preceded it. The climax was seeing Christ.

Simeon was “waiting for the Consolation of Israel,” and the NKJV capitalizes consolation in order to emphasize that this consolation is not a what but a who. Christ is the consolation. His coming would bring joy, peace, and justice to Israel. Simeon was not waiting for deliverance from the Romans, for the reestablishment of a Davidic monarchy, for a return to the economic prosperity of Solomon. He was waiting for the Savior, One who would rescue Israel from her sin. That is our true consolation, not temporal or material advantage, as pleasant as that may be. We are waiting for spiritual and eternal salvation. That is what Christ brings, and that is our soul’s lasting consolation.

Christmas is hard for many families because of the memories and absence of loved ones. We remember gathering to eat and unwrap presents around the tree, but some of those with whom we shared these times are no longer with us. We sometimes wonder if this Christmas may be the last time. Some of us have potentially life-threatening illnesses. Maybe the doctor has said it’s not looking good. And regardless of our health, our lives are but a vapor, fragile and quickly perishing. Simeon was waiting to see Christ, and he knew that when he saw him, the last milestone in his life was over. But he did not try to postpone, avoid, or prolong that encounter. He longed for it, and when it arrived, he celebrated. He could depart in peace because he had seen Jesus. Our hope as we celebrate tomorrow should not be for one more Christmas with family but for the eternal day of joy and celebration when we shall be with Christ and his beloved saints forevermore.

Waiting in the Temple for Redemption (36-38)

Anna had been alone a long time. She had been widowed after seven years of marriage while still very young, and now she was an elderly woman. Evidently she never remarried which would ordinarily have been desirable due to her age and due to the protection and means of life it provided. But she had her eyes on another husband; her heart was fixed on Yahweh, the God of her fathers. She was always in the Temple. I don’t think this means she never left the premises, but she spent every day there, for hours and hours. It was her home, her life, her constant occupation. Anna did not have a prayer life; she lived a life of prayer. Fasting every day and offering continual supplication to God. Later monastic traditions would pray seven times a day, including waking up in the middle of the night, and they would recite the entire Psalter every week. Anna was no less dedicated; indeed, those monks had nothing on this woman! She was a prophetess, a servant of God, one who spent her whole life in prayer before God’s throne.

Why did the Lord leave Anna on this earth for so long? Why not take her home to glory? We do not know if there were others in Anna’s life, family or friends, to whom she ministered. We know very little about her story. What we know is remarkable, but it seems rather lonely. Wouldn’t such a person desire more than anything to depart and be with God (cf. Php. 1:23)? Maybe her life served many purposes, but nothing she ever did could have been more significant than what she did here. She welcomed Jesus into the Temple, and in so doing, she saw the glory of God return in the Person of Christ, albeit only for a while. She gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of the Messiah to those who, like her and Simeon, were waiting and watching for redemption. Like Simeon, this was the climax of a long and dedicated life of service. She did what she’d waited 80 years to do.

As we gather around Christmas trees, dinner tables, and living rooms over the next day or two, our presence should be a form of worship which includes explicit thanksgiving and speaking of Christ, the One who brings redemption. Christmas should be celebrated not only with gifts and rich desserts but also with glad hearts, giving thanks to God, and speaking loudly and lovingly of the Lord who loved us by becoming a Man. Worship on Christmas must be a culmination of prayer and watching, and it should, in turn, fuel further fasting and prayer, a life of waiting on the Lord. We are not merely waiting to open presents. We are waiting to welcome and praise God’s Son.

Waiting for the Public Work to Begin (39-40, 51-52)

Finally, notice that even the Lord waits in our passage. He waits in a manger, he waits in his parents’ house, he waits under their authority, he waits in a submissive posture on his heavenly Father’s will. Jesus shows us the divine humility. It seems paradoxical, but God has been stooping down since the beginning, humbling himself to speak and bless, to forgive and support, to redeem and glorify his creatures since he first began to create. Why didn’t Jesus begin his ministry as a precocious four year old? His answers in the Temple at age 12 prove it could have happened. We could have known our Savior as a pre-adolescent preacher, but that was not the Father’s plan. Jesus went home, obeyed his parents, listened and learned, and grew as a true Man. He worked as a carpenter, he got splinters in and calluses on his hands, and he patiently awaited the day when the Father would summon him to the Jordan River to be baptized and begin his preaching ministry.

We tend to think of the important events as… well, important, and they are. But did you know that waiting is an important part of God’s plan too? He didn’t create the world in a single instant, but there is absolutely no doubt he could. Jesus did not commence the Incarnation as a 30 year old. Why not? Because he had to fulfill all righteousness, and that includes the righteousness God requires of a one day old, and a one year old, and an eleven year old, and so on. Even when God’s saints are waiting, we’re never merely waiting. We are watching, praying, contemplating, and hoping. We are always looking ahead, not backward with regret but forward with excitement, because Jesus has come, and one day he will return.

Conclusion

How long, O Lord? This is a question the saints often ask in prayer. How long until our pain is over? How long until our enemies are judged? How long until the struggle ends? How long until suffering and sorrow in this world is no more? How long until we see the glory of Christ? When will God put an end to blasphemy, perversion, persecution, and trials of various kinds? How long will the wicked go unpunished and the saints suffer hardship and eat their bread with tears? How long will false teaching flourish? How long must we wait for God’s promise to end in joy?

It can be hard to wait, and not just to open those presents under the tree or eat the pies and cake which have been baked. You will have ample opportunity in the next 24 hours to remind your children, grandchildren, and yourself that waiting with joyful, patient anticipation is the posture of faith. We are not merely waiting on the turkey to be done, the table to be set, and the presents to be opened. We are waiting for Jesus Christ to come. He came two thousand years ago, and we are here this evening to acknowledge and thank God for that. But that was only the next step in God’s work of salvation. It was the crucial step, the phase which guaranteed all others, but it was not the last step. God has prepared more for us to enjoy. The best is truly yet to come.

The joy you find in unwrapping presents may be dimmed slightly on Saturday, and if not then on Monday, by the post-Christmas blues. Your satisfaction in a hearty Christmas meal may be offset somewhat by heartburning indigestion. The pleasures of Christmas are only a poor sample of the greater, unmarred, undiminishing joy which the saints will have forever in Christ. That is not to say we ought to disparage good things at Christmas. They are God’s gifts, and it would be wrong for us to be so ungrateful as to suggest they are anything other than pleasures to be enjoyed. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, give gifts to your children, sing hymns and carols loudly with your brethren. Laugh until you cry. Be glad for all that our God has made. His works are very good. The Lord is not glorified by a sour, ungrateful attitude, Mr. Scrooge. Celebrate Christmas with gusto, but as you do so, remember that we are still waiting. This is only a prelude to the real celebration. Christ is coming. Wait for him with patience, confidence, and joy. Amen.

The Offense of Christmas #3 (2020 Advent Series)

 Psalm 2; Matthew 2:13-21:

Christmas and the Fall of This World’s Kings

Introduction

This is the last lesson in our (abbreviated) Advent series this year. Over the last two weeks we have examined several passages that highlight the way in which Christ’s coming challenged the gods and false religion of this world and has decisively defeated them. Specifically we have seen that Christmas is fatal to any theory of neutrality or naturalism. Christmas proves that neutrality is a myth and that the system of naturalism fails at every point. The world is not neutral, secular space because Jesus has come, and he is Lord over all. Neither can naturalism be entertained. The world is not a closed, mechanical system. Human beings believe in morality and magic. Christmas is true, and unbelievers who hate and oppose its celebration show their fear of it.

Today we come to two passages that set forth clearly this antithesis between Christ and the world system. The King of all Kings is hated and opposed by the petty, tyrant-kings who presently rule in the City of Man. But they will not prevail. Yahweh has enthroned his Anointed One on Mt. Zion, and there is nothing the rulers of men who oppose it can do about it. The first coming of the Lord announced the end of their rule was at hand. His second coming will close the chapter finally.

Psalm 2 may seem a strange psalm to use during the Christmas season. In some ways it is better suited to Easter since it is a hymn of the resurrection. The apostle Paul gives an inspired interpretation of the text in his synagogue sermon at Pisidian Antioch in Acts 13. There he makes it plain that the phrase “today I have begotten You” speaks not of what happened at Bethlehem and Christmas but of what happened at Joseph’s tomb on the third day (Ac. 13:32-33). This begetting is God’s declaration in space and time and by an act of divine power that Jesus truly is the divine Son of God (cf. Rom. 1:4). The resurrection of Jesus is the definitive sign of who he is. It is not the manger but the empty tomb that ultimately convinces us he is the Son of God.

Yet as a resurrection hymn, Psalm 2 is appropriate on every Lord’s Day, and it is especially appropriate on the Lord’s Day nearest to the Church’s historic celebration of the Incarnation. Today two great remembrances of the Church are joined: that the Son of God came and that after he died for sins he arose. The Lord’s Day is a weekly celebration of the resurrection, but there could be no resurrection unless Jesus died, and he could not die unless he was truly incarnated (enfleshed), i.e. made man (John 1:14). Everything in the gospel downstream of Jesus’ birth presupposes it. There is no ministry, no miracles, no parables, no exorcisms, no sacraments, no serving, no suffering, no salvation at all unless Jesus had truly come as a Man. This, not incidentally but as an aside, is why our tradition of rejecting the medieval Church’s calendar and affirming that the Lord’s Day is the one day the Lord appointed for his Church to observe is so valuable. There is an important sense in which we do not have Christmas hymns, Easter hymns, or Pentecost hymns, and we firmly reject hymns to Mary or any other saint. We have Christian hymns, biblical hymns, Scripture songs, and they are appropriate on every day of worship when God’s people gather.

I want to examine these two texts side by side. Psalm 2 liturgically affirms the principle. Matthew 2 shows it to us in history. Psalm 2 gives us the theology, and Matthew shows one aspect of it in Jesus’ life. Remember the psalms are the “songs of Jesus.” We benefit tremendously from them and can relate personally to most of them at some point in our lives. But they preeminently point to Christ. He is the righteous man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly and can dwell on God’s holy hill. Psalm 2 is explicitly Messianic, one of the few that can only refer to Christ. Most of the psalms have an application for the psalmist and for saints who join in prayer and praise as well as a larger, eschatological application in relation to the Messiah. But Psalm 2 is all about Jesus, the Savior who is both the Anointed One and the Lord. He is the King born in Bethlehem whom Herod feared and world leaders hate; he is God’s King on the holy hill of Zion.

Christ’s Coming was Feared, Hated, and Violently Opposed

What would cause a king to order the slaughter of babies in one of his towns? Rage? That was not the case here. Hatred? Again, not the issue. Madness? Undoubtedly, but even madness has some reason for the order, however demented. Herod’s actions can only be understood in relation to fear. Herod was afraid of the appearance of the Messiah and what it would mean for his throne. 

Fear, of course, is a powerful motivator and has often been the reason for violence against others. We fear what we do not understand. People often fear what they perceive as different. And we fear what threatens to take away the things that we love and the idols in which we trust.

Herod did not order the slaughter of the Bethlehem infants because he had good reason to think the Messiah would be like Stalin or Hitler or Mao Tse-tung, as immoral, wicked, and gross as even that would be. No, Herod ordered the slaughter of the children because he knew that if the Messiah arrived he would become king and then Herod could not be. He was not opposed to the Messiah’s rule on moral grounds. He was opposed to anyone who might rule other than himself.

You probably have sent or received Christmas cards this year with Luke 2:14 printed on it: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!” I still want someone to create a Christmas card with Matthew 10:34-36 on it:

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’”

Jesus came to establish peace between God and his people, the new human race, the citizens of Zion. But his coming was and continues to be met with fear, hatred, and violent opposition. If you believe in and follow Jesus Christ, you will be persecuted. Not may be. Not probably will be. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2Tim. 3:12). And that persecution will sometimes come from your family or your own brethren. Jesus said so. So do not be surprised.

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” … For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (1Pet. 3:14, 17)

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. (1Pet. 4:12-16)

Christ Came as King to Rule Over His Enemies

Why do people react violently and spitefully against Christ and those who follow him? Didn’t he come to save men, to establish peace, to bestow divine blessing? Yes, but he does so as the Sovereign Lord, Master and Commander, Maker and Judge. If he came only to save and then promised to leave everyone alone, perhaps more people would be willing to receive his work of grace. Who doesn’t like free stuff? I am being facetious to make a point. No unregenerate person will receive Christ no matter the offer. But don’t miss the point: Jesus’ gift of grace and work as Savior is inextricably linked to his authority and rule as Lord of all. You cannot have Christ as your Savior while rejecting him as Lord. He is both Savior and Lord, objectively, and those who reject his authority as King, like those in Psalm 2, will not enjoy the benefits of his work as Savior.

Many evangelicals think of Jesus’ role as a position we grant to him by our decision. Some of you have heard the expression: “God votes for you, Satan votes against you, and you cast the deciding vote.” Stuff and nonsense. What you see in Psalm 2 is that Jesus is King whether you choose him or not. He will rule regardless of man’s cooperation. Some of the same believers who say you must make Jesus Lord of your life will acknowledge this globally while denying it on the personal level. You see this, for example, in the notion of the carnal Christian, the idea that you can have Jesus as Savior but not as Lord, that you can be saved while remaining in unrepentance and disobedience. This is not what the Bible teaches. Jesus is Savior and he is Lord, and man’s denial of either role has no material affect on his position and power. He is, objectively, Lord of all, and the psalm says explicitly he rules over his enemies.

“Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” (vv.8-9)

What if those nations don’t want Christ to rule over them? It doesn’t matter. What if I prefer my autonomy and want to govern my own life? He is still Lord and King. You do not place Jesus on the throne, not of your life, not of anything. He is on the throne already. He is Lord of all lords. He is Ruler over your life, and you will acknowledge that now or later, but you will acknowledge it. God’s Word says: “Every knee shall bow… and every tongue shall confess” that Jesus Christ is Lord (cf. Rom. 14:11; Php. 2:9-11).

The Lord rules over all creation, in heaven and on earth, not only his redeemed sons and daughters but also his enemies. For the latter, he uses a rod of iron, and for the former, a shepherd’s staff. His is an everlasting and invincible kingdom that shall outlast and overrule all kingdoms of this present world. Ancient Israel was not that kingdom, and neither is the modern state of Israel. The United States is not that kingdom anymore than was the Roman, Greek, or Neo-Babylonian Empires. We must beware of kingdom confusion; though we are citizens of temporal and political nations, our true allegiance is to the King of Glory and his everlasting dominion. We are part of that kingdom right now having been delivered from the “power of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of the Son” (Col. 1:13), but we still await its consummation. We seek “an entrance…  into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2Pet. 1:11) which we will see on the day when the kingdoms of this world are brought into subjection to the true King. The enemies will be shattered like pottery, and the farthest ends of the earth will be ruled by Messiah.

The Lord Laughs with Scorn for His Enemies and Joy for His Sons

Only an invincible kingdom could begin as meanly and vulnerably as Christ’s coming into this world. He was not born as a prince into a noble family. Sure, his lineage was kingly--he was a descendant of David! But no one looking at Joseph and Mary would have associated them with royalty or political power. He was born into poverty and obscurity and worked with his hands as a carpenter until his public ministry began (cf. Mark 6:3). He was hunted by Herod, hated by the religious establishment, and finally executed by the government authorities. And all of these were preparatory to the successful, inevitable, unconquerable inauguration of his kingdom rule.

Herod’s opposition, like the resistance of rulers described in Psalm 2, was not only evil and despicable; it was desperate, pathetic, and futile. He hoped to kill the child born to be king and so secure his own hold on the throne. But all he accomplished was increasing his own condemnation. He was already an evil man; now he became a murderer of children. But he could not stop Christ. He could not prevent or impede the kingdom of God in any way. The reign of the Messiah was inevitable. Herod’s days were numbered. He had two choices: submit to Christ or perish.

How does the Lord respond to the wicked, violent rebellion of his foes? He laughs. This is surprising to some people who are not accustomed to such a picture of God, but Psalm 2 says he laughs at the wicked. He is not laughing with amusement. He is not laughing as we might when we see the adorable but futile wrestlings of a baby or a puppy. He is laughing with scorn. He holds the wicked in derision. He despises their violent attempts to overthrow his authority, but he does not fear them. We may. We look at the world and are tempted to wring our hands. “What is going to happen?!” But the Lord does not wonder. He knows. He ordained the end from the beginning. And nothing this world’s rulers or rebels ever do or even can do can ever change the authority and sovereignty of Christ over all creation. Submit to Christ, or perish. Those are their only options.

Christ Entered the House of Bondage to Deliver God’s People

One of the great ironies in Matthew 2 and the Christmas story is Joseph and Mary’s flight to Egypt to escape Herod’s attempts to kill the Child. Egypt was the house of bondage, the historic site of Israel’s original captivity, and a metaphor for the judgment of God’s people in the prophets. But Jesus goes there, of all places, to escape danger in the promised land. If you suspect there is something more going on, you are correct.

The flight into Egypt and subsequent return to the land is a picture of Christ’s first advent in miniature. The Son of God descended into the house of slavery in order to bring the sons of God up from there once again. Christ’s ministry is the new and true exodus, the deliverance the first exodus could only foreshadow. He came into a world full of sin where men were bound by the power of darkness. He entered that house willingly because we needed a deliverer, and Christ, as the new and greater Moses, brought God’s people out of Egypt forever.

There is more to see here--more in fact than we have time to unpack today--including the paradox of God’s salvation. He saves in unexpected and impossible ways. The foolishness of preaching in contrast to the wisdom of man. Saviors born to barren women. Victory given to the weak and few over the strong and many. “Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called” because “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise” and mighty and things the world admires and adores (1Cor. 1:26-27).

Joseph goes to Egypt as a slave and becomes savior of his family there. Moses is born in Egypt as a slave, leaves, but willingly returns in order to deliver the Israelites. Now Jesus follows their footsteps to do what their lives only anticipated. He finds refuge in the house of bondage, but he is not there to hide. Like David who sought refuge among the Philistines, the Lord is positioned in plain sight of his target. He is not there to pass the time. God’s heroes go to Egypt to plunder it.

Christmas and the Fall of This World’s Kings

Herod’s violent opposition to the birth of Christ both historically enacts the rebellion in Psalm 2 and serves as the prototype for all unregenerate, reprobate rulers. The kings of this world have fought Christmas from the very beginning because they know that the birth of the King will be the end of their rule. “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Rev. 11:15) Regardless of your eschatological view, you have to reckon with that passage and many others like it. The “glory and honor of the nations” are brought into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:26). All nations, all earthly kingdoms, all rulers and authorities, will one day pay tribute to the true King of the universe: Jesus Christ.

This is not to say the kingdom of Christ is an earthly or political institution like the nations of this world. Jesus made clear to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). He said to the Pharisees’ question of when the kingdom would come: “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). This is a spiritual, otherworldly kingdom. It is not claiming a particular piece of land, building a capital, mustering an army, and marching out to conquer the nations of the world as any of them might do. But that does not mean the kingdom of Christ is theoretical or merely ethereal. It has an earthly manifestation and practical, temporal implications for the City of Man which will be increasingly obvious as Christ exercises his rule over all.

Do you want a Christian nation? Well it depends on what you mean. If you mean do I want only Presbyterians to be allowed to hold office, all atheists executed, and all Roman Catholics and credo-baptists jailed, then no, as a matter of fact, I do not. What some have sought or expected as a “Christian” nation turns out not to be very Christian or biblical or realistic at all. But that does not make the advocacy of a secular state the preferred or proper solution. There are ditches on both sides of the road. And if some views of a Christian nation are much too sectarian, some views of politics held by believers in the present age are simply pagan. No, that’s not true and it’s unfair to pagans. At least pagans believed the gods were involved in their national affairs and so their city leaders offered public prayers and sacrifices accordingly. Christian secularists won’t allow that.

Every kingdom is religious. Every single one. Stalinist Russia was religious. Their religion was secularism and atheism, but it was practiced religiously as a religion nonetheless. Have you heard of the Cult of Reason which developed during the French Revolution? Human beings are religious by nature, and if we refuse to be religious, then we will be religious about our irreligiosity. The question is not whether we will worship a god; the question is which god we will worship. Every kingdom is a theocracy, and the most tyrannical are states that insist they are not theocratic. The god of the state rules the kingdom. His word and values become the law, and they must be obeyed on pain of death. Do you doubt it? Consider what tolerance and diversity looks like in our present social context. We must make room for all views, except any view that departs from the new norm. How quickly we went from admitting abortion as “safe, legal, and rare” to hashtags like Shout Your Abortion and public celebration on the steps of the Supreme Court for the slaughter of children. Just over twenty years ago our society was challenged to reject what was term homophobic hatred and violence. Today we have hate crimes legislation which punishes crimes more severely if they are committed with a bad motivation--as opposed to all of those crimes that arise from good and wholesome motivations--and which now threatens to penalize, silence, or otherwise subjugate opinions, beliefs, and language that offends the new morality. “Silence is violence,” but words are also deemed “violence,” as when someone refuses to participate in the normalization of mental illness by using preferred pronouns contrary to a person’s biological sex.

Theocracy is inevitable, and if it isn’t the true God then it will be Zeus or Ra or Marduk or Tash. Lest you think I am suggesting we ought to have a Christian theocracy in order to beat them at their own game, I am arguing there is no game at all because Jesus has come and he is Lord! We are not trying to engineer or politically maneuver the kingdom into power. He already has it. He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). What authority does he lack? Where is he not King? Not all of his subjects recognize his authority. Not all of them are obedient to him. But don’t get too worked up about that. He is a great King, and he knows how to defend his throne.

Kiss the Son. We think of kissing in the context of romance. This is a kiss in the context of monarchy. It is kissing the ring or kissing the feet, a sign of submission, but not grudging, fearful submission to a tyrant, but the willing, joyful submission of a slave who has been redeemed and delivered and then adopted as a son. Jesus came into this world and shed his blood so that his enemies might be awakened from the sleep of death and made his friends. Rather than merely vanquishing us as foes, he has vanquished us as a lover wins his beloved, by wooing the heart. The bride gladly submits to her husband, because he won her submission by love, service, and self-sacrifice. Jesus is King, and his hand must be kissed because he is Lord of all. If he is Lord, then I am not. But there is a kind of romance in it after all. Not the erotic kind of romance, but the covenantal romance of a Bride won by the love and sacrifice of her Savior.

Jesus did not merely show up, proclaim himself King, and order everyone to worship him. He could have done so. Instead he came “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). He gave himself, repeatedly and fully, so that his foes might be conquered, not by power but by grace. The iron rod which will destroy all his enemies first fell on the King himself, as he laid down his life for the sins of God’s chosen ones. We worship Christ because he is God, we obey Him because he is King, but we love him because he is good. We love him because he first loved us (1Jn. 4:19). And what a love that is, beyond comprehension!

Conclusion

In this series we’ve examined some of what makes Christmas so offensive. It is because Christmas was the eschatological equivalent of D-Day in a spiritual, but very visible, war. Christ’s Advent confronted, combated, and has conquered the gods of this world. The idea of neutrality? Everywhere is sacred space, because Jesus has sanctified it by his presence, and he is Lord of all of it. The system of naturalism? The Creator stepped into the world, became a creature. He did what was impossible for the creature in order to save the world. This is not a closed system; it is a terrarium full of magic and creatures that contemplate morality. The kings and kingdoms of this world? They are all under the authority of the King of all Kings, the Ruler of the everlasting kingdom. Those earthly kingdoms are becoming the one kingdom of our Lord and Savior. His kingdom will stand forever. None of the kingdoms of this world can or will.

No one is particularly offended by a baby in a manger. That is why the world has tried to strip Christmas of all theological substance in its sanitized celebration of the “winter holidays.” Even the Church has been complicit in this mistake. The Lord was a baby in a manger, but he is not anymore. It’s not so much that the things we say this time of year are wrong--some of them are, but mostly it is an issue of what is not being said and where the emphasis is being laid. But regardless of the world’s hostility and the hatred and opposition of civil magistrates, regardless of the Church’s lack of theological discernment and the misplaced emphasis on “the little Lord Jesus” --who unlike every other newborn in the history of the world evidently never cried--no matter the sanitized and de-theologized Christmas many people may celebrate, the truth still breaks through and will prevail. Jesus is Savior and Lord. He is a mighty King, the Deliverer of his people, and Sovereign, enthroned on Mt. Zion, the One before whom all earthly kings must inevitably bow or fall. Rejoice the Lord is King. O come, let us adore him. Merry Christmas. Amen.