Every 25^th of December, we stop and celebrate. Celebrate what? The astounding and unbelievable mystery that defines the Christian faith: the Incarnation. God become man – the divine takes on flesh. Stop and think what an amazing thing that is. God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, leaves the exalted and perfect glory of the heavens above and takes on humanity and all the things that set it apart from its Creator. Things like changeableness - Jesus aged, after all. Things like weakness, as he grew tired and hungry. Such a condescension – such a humiliation.

And he did so not out of curiosity, not out of selfishness. He did so in order to give himself as a sacrifice for others. He did so to pour himself out as an offering for our sins, to suffer the ultimate indignity on our behalf.

Without the Incarnation, we would have no Mediator between God and man, no perfect and sufficient propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. Without the Incarnation, we would bear our own burdens and have to stand before a wrathful and holy God with the full weight of our sins on our own backs alone. Without the Incarnation, we would have no hope at all, no salvation.

That’s what we celebrate the 25^th of December. Only Easter stands as such a distinctively Christian observance. And yet, the Bible says nothing, commands nothing, about Christmas observance. You’ll find no detailed instructions in the New Testament about observing Christmas like the list of procedures for the Passover or the Feast of Booths in the Old Testament. You don’t find anything relating to Christmas, even like the quiet, subtle example of Lord’s Day worship in the Scripture. Simply put, Christmas is not required of the Christian. It would fall neatly under the issue treated by Paul when he said, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

Yet if it is not required, in light of Paul’s instructions, it is not forbidden either, and so most Christians celebrate the Incarnation on the specific day of the 25^th. Why then, and not another day? It’s pretty certain that Jesus was not actually born in December; I read an article some years ago arguing that it was likely in April or May, and the hard fact is that we cannot know the exact date for certain. That stands in contrast to Easter; scholars can determine with great accuracy the probable date of Jesus’ death on the cross.

So God in his wisdom declined to reveal the exact date of the first Christmas. That’s interesting, but there are practical, devotional applications we can draw from this. First, it reminds us that the true miracle of the Incarnation happened before that night in the stable; that the true wonder isn’t the virgin birth but the virgin conception of Christ. Put another way, the Incarnation happened before Jesus was born. So in the midst of all the focus on the birth of Christ, let’s not forget that God’s gift was really given nine months beforehand and that his gift was far more than the safe delivery of a child in a stable. The Incarnation is bigger than Christmas, going back in time as well as forward.

And second, the fact that the 25^th is not really Jesus’ actual birthday and that, for all we know for certain, his real birth date could really have been any day, can serve to remind us that our wonder and thankfulness for Jesus’ condescension should not be confined to one special day. The life and death of Christ supplies our righteousness, saves our eternal lives, and should increasingly be reflected in our daily walks. There is a real and an important sense that every day should be Christmas for us – we should constantly remember, every day, the mercy and grace shown to us by God in giving Christ to live as a man for us.

So I hope and pray you all enjoyed the day, and that you all took time to meditate on the sheer grace we have been shown by God in the Incarnation. Merry Christmas – today, tomorrow, and year-round.

Christmas is a stressful time for a lot of people. I walk in a mall these days and the lineups are insane; parking is like looking for a needle in a haystack. People are overwhelmed and frantic.

Why? Lots of reasons, but one of them is time. The clock is ticking; Christmas is coming closer and closer, and there’s still so much to do. I’m feeling this pinch at work; others have family coming and have too many preparations to make; still others have travel plans and too much to take care of before they go.

We’re time-bound creatures. Time is, in essence, the experience of change. We grow older because our bodies change; seasons pass because the weather patterns shift. It’s part of physical existence. I’m no expert, and perhaps there’s an engineer or mathematician reading this who would set me straight if I’m wrong, but as I understand it time is technically a dimension of physical space.

That makes time, like every other aspect of our physical universe, a created thing. That means, like the rest of our universe, God has it under his control. Time bends to his will; its passage has been ordained in eternity past. As David put it: Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:16).

By contrast, God is different. He stands outside of time. He transcends time. As Peter so aptly expressed it, do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8). God looks at time any way he wants; he can experience it any way he chooses to do so (as when he appeared to the saints of the Old Testament, or especially in the Incarnation), or he can stand back from it entirely and look at it objectively like any of the other works of his hands. This truth is also seen in the fact that, as God said through Malachi, “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6). Since time is the experience of change, God by definition cannot, in his essence, be subject to time. It cannot be part of his nature.

We know this as Reformed Christians. It’s a necessary part of an understanding of the sovereignty of God. Yet especially at a time like this, we need to apply that truth. We’re all tempted to forget this, especially at this time of year. Running out of time? I’ve felt that way all week. Many of you have as well.

But our hope cannot be in planners or schedules. Our confidence is not in Outlook or Google Calendar. Your ability to multitask or your knack for time management cannot be where you place your trust. None of these things are bad in themselves, but this is a time of the year where we are tempted to act, in practice, as if they really are our hope. No – God must hold that place. His grace is to be sufficient.

What does that look like in practice?

a) It should show itself in a peaceful mindset and attitude in the midst of busy-ness. That doesn’t mean a catatonic state by any means; it’s possible to be dealing with many issues or doing things quickly and still be confident and confident that God has you in the palm of his hand and that he is sovereign. We should have the mind of David, who when considering his sinfulness and God’s judgment upon it, and marveling at God’s forgiveness, proclaimed: “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance… Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.” (Psalm 32:7,10)

b) It should be seen in a renewed commitment to prayer. The Spirit is the source of the strength we need to face the challenges God has given us. Do you need assurance or energy or focus or wisdom? Perhaps “you do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). I’ve been convicted this week in the midst of crises that I was neglecting my responsibility to bring my cares to God; as I repented and responded with more prayer, the problems and crises did not decrease (contra prosperity theology!), but God did give me peace and strength. As Paul reminded his readers: “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

c) It should manage time as a gift, like money or possessions, that has been granted to us by God’s grace as a stewardship for his glory. What are you doing with your time? Some are tempted to spend the time God gives them lamenting or pining for more time; some are tempted to spend it on worthless and trivial pursuits; some are tempted to pour it into things or activities of real value and worth (Work? Relationships? Reading theology?) but in proportions that result in neglect of other responsibilities or other God-dishonoring failures. A godly view of time treats it as a precious and limited resource that needs to be managed to give the most glory to God that one can give.

As Scripture reminds us: “This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short.”  Let’s look at it properly and use it wisely.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:1-4)

Raising young children has the happy benefit of seeing the world through a fresh set of eyes. Having a three-year-old means that you face more questions than an embattled politician; it also means that your assumptions, your whole worldview, is regularly put to the test.

One thing that’s impressed me lately about Caden, and I’m sure it’s true about other children, is how simple and whole – complete, integrated – their view of the world is. Adults are tempted daily to assume that spiritual things are somehow disconnected or separate from the more material or “mundane” concerns of daily life. How refreshing it can be, then, to hear questions like this:

“Mommy, did Jesus use a ladder to get to heaven?”

“Daddy, do backhoes go to heaven?”

And we laugh, and we tell others he’s so cute, and we poke some fun at him behind his back (“I guess it wouldn’t be heaven without backhoes, would it!”). I know that Caden’s at an age where abstract or conceptual thinking is really difficult; I know he struggles to understand things that can’t be explained or expressed in down-to-earth ways. Yet the questions themselves are very encouraging, and convicting.

Encouraging, because Caden sees no daylight between things spiritual and things of daily life. He loves church and he loves construction; if heaven is a wonderful place, and people can go there, why not heavy equipment? Grampie used a ladder to paint the roof; how else would Jesus get to heaven? That encourages me as a parent, because it means that our immortal, invisible God is, by his grace, as real to my son as the things he can play with and look at. He’s struggling to understand (“No, Grampie’s doggie did not die on a cross, he was put to sleep…”), but he doesn’t doubt.

And convicting, because I so often fall into the habit of treating spiritual things as somehow different from the concerns of physical life. Our Lord became flesh, and worked with his hands, and had hard days and long hours, and got tired and needed rest. Yet it’s still my inclination to neglect the spiritual disciplines that would help me face each day’s challenges – disciplines like prayer, like biblical meditation – in the midst of those challenges, hermetically sealing them into a time of quiet devotion at the very beginning or end of the day. Instead, I deal with the challenges of life in the body primarily by physical responses – coffee, collapsing on the couch, coffee, calling Erin for a momentary change of focus, coffee, a walk outside, etc.

When Caden struggles with understanding this world, he assumes that it’s tied inextricably to the world he reads about in his Bible. When I struggle with how to deal with the problems of the world, I assume the thing to do is to find the corresponding physical answer, as if there isn’t a spiritual dimension. That’s unbelief, really.

Put another way: Caden “plays” church all the time - and Jesus and backhoes go together naturally in his mind. For us adults, we don’t “play” church, we “take it seriously” – and then we forget to pray when work is tough, or the kids grate on us, or our spouse seems impossible. So: who’s playing?

And those “silly” questions don’t seem so silly in that light.

…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect… (1 Peter 3:15 ESV)

This passage is most often cited in the context of apologetics. I’ve read it cited in many an apologetics textbook, quoted on more than one apologist’s broadcast. Like any other verse, however, just because it has a special significance for that particular field of Christian life does not mean that it has no bearing on the average Christian or on everyday life.

Every Christian is called to both know the Gospel and to be ready to share it. This is one of those senses in which every believer is a minister – every one of you needs to be able to articulate and explain the Gospel in your own words. This, in a nutshell, is the first and most obvious application of this passage.

Over the past two years, as we have dealt with pastoral care issues in the church, we have been reminded again and again how most pastoral problems are the result of a failure on someone’s part to either understand or apply the Good News to their situation. Some examples:

- Anxiety and worry about work or a personal situation? Quite often, they’ve forgotten the Good News that God is sovereign and will work all things to the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose. They are called by Christ’s name and are safe in Him forever; what happens here in this world will only ever be a temporary and passing thing.

- Two Christians struggling to get along? Each is probably fixated on how the other is getting things wrong and with how they are unfairly treated. Each has forgotten that, since the other is a believer, who am I to condemn? It is Jesus who died – so justice has already been done! The Christian’s vindication needs to be found in Christ and his work, not in winning arguments or having the other person admit guilt. This is a big theme in marital counseling and in helping Christians deal with issues arising from their time in previous churches.

- A Christian doesn’t seem to make it a priority to get to church? He or she has forgotten that Christ saved us in order to purify for himself a people for his own possession. Salvation is incorporation into the Body of Christ, and is not an exclusively individual thing. Such Christians usually struggle with other pastoral problems as well, lacking the support and encouragement and accountability that arise naturally from relationships within the church fellowship.

- Constantly trying to “make up” to God or others for things you’ve done in the past? Never feel good enough for God? You forget that salvation is by grace alone – you can’t earn or deserve it – and that it is grasped by faith alone – you need to forget your own efforts and trust in God. This is a really dangerous error that Christians who came to faith out of a works-salvation-oriented background (i.e., Islam, Catholicism, Oneness Pentecostalism, Mormonism) are particularly prone to, because not only does it rob you of assurance, but these “good works” may be tantamount to denials of Christ. This person needs to give an answer for the hope of the Gospel not to another person, but to themselves.

It’s because the Gospel is so basic to our identity and lives as Christians that we emphasize it the way we do in our preaching. This, indeed, is the first and most important part of biblical counseling – and it happens before a personal meeting ever takes place. “Counseling” starts in the pulpit, with the regular proclamation of God’s word and the Good News to Christians! And Christians are called to understand, internalize, and apply the Gospel to their actions and attitudes, their ways and their worldview. That’s our responsibility as a congregation in response to preaching. And it is a failure to do so that in so many cases results in a pastoral care problem.

So this devotional is a call to spiritual self-care. Learn the Gospel and apply it to everything in your life. Stop looking anywhere but Christ for vindication and justification. Take comfort in your identity in Christ and live in the knowledge that he is your identity and you are his ambassador.

As we make our way around the congregation on pastoral visitation, you may hear us ask you to explain the Gospel in a minute or less. Other churches do this as part of their membership evaluation, and it is a good exercise. I encourage each of you to take the time in the next days and seek to articulate the Good News in your own words as a meditation. Write it down; tell it to your husband or wife during family devotions. And look for areas of your life, for struggles and problems, where the Gospel may need application.