Monthly Archives: December 2015

Before your head hits the pillow

What’s in a name?

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Each of us has a name, a given name and a surname. Our given name is the name that mom and dad chose for us. Often times the given name is a name that means something to the parents, like a name given in memory of a departed loved one or a family name that is given often to the first born boy from generation to generation.

Our name is how we are known to our friends and acquaintances. The name becomes very important and people are often disturbed by someone not remembering their name or mispronouncing it.

Our surname or last name is a generational name. The surname is a rather recent historic development. Many surnames are derived from an ancestor’s occupation or area of residence. Over time surnames often evolve.

But no name(s) have ever been as important as the names of Jesus, our Savior. The research that I have done indicates that there are more than 170 names associated with Jesus and all of them descriptive. You may find research that indicates fewer or more, but what is definite is that Jesus was known throughout the Old and New Testament by many descriptive names. Each name tells us something special about Jesus’ character.

There is no way that I can list all 170 names here but I will highlight some just to reveal how important the names of Christ are and how they describe His magnificent character.

Christ is described as far back as Genesis 49:10 as Shiloh which means “Peace bringer.” And indeed, He is the one who brings us peace.

In Numbers 24:17 he is referred to as Sceptre which means “The King is Coming”

He is referred to as Redeemer in Job, Isaiah, Galatians and Revelations.

And too many times to list as Son of God, Holy One, King, and High Priest.

Song 2:1 refers to him as the Rose of Sharon – the rose is often given as an example of new life and of a perfect blossom.

Those most familiar to us are Emmanuel which means “God is with us,” Wonderful, and Counsellor (He definitely guides us giving daily wisdom). He is also known as Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.

I could go on and on with dozens more examples of his name.

You might ask why this is important. It is important because the names of Christ show his majesty, His love for us, his grace and the place He wants to have in our lives.

There is no way that one name could adequately describe our Savior. One name cannot precisely indicate all He is to His people.

If you really want to better know Christ, I would encourage you to look up all of the names of Christ. Study them so that you can better know your Lord. Better knowing Him better equips us to serve Him.

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There Is No Name So Sweet on Earth.

There is no name so sweet on earth,
No name so sweet in Heaven,
The Name, before His wondrous birth
To Christ the Savior given.

We love to sing of Christ our King,
And hail Him, blessèd Jesus;
For there’s no word ear ever heard
So dear, so sweet as “Jesus.”

His human name they did proclaim,
When Abram’s son they sealed Him;
The name that still by God’s good will,
Deliverer revealed Him.

And when He hung upon the tree,
They wrote this Name above Him;
That all might see the reason we
Forevermore must love Him.

So now, upon His Father’s throne,
Almighty to release us
From sin and pain, He gladly reigns,
The Prince and Savior, Jesus.

O Jesus, by that matchless Name,
Thy grace shall fail us never;
Today as yesterday the same,
Thou art the same forever.

Before your head hits the pillow

Why is it Important to Believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus?

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We are currently in the Advent Season.  Advent includes the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.  The dictionary defines advent as: The arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.

NOTHING in this world has ever been as notable as the arrival of Christ and nothing will be as notable as the Second Advent, the second coming of Christ.

There have been scholarly disagreements about the virgin birth.  People will say, well that is impossible.  No person could be born of a virgin, but the Bible makes it VERY clear that Jesus WAS born of a virgin, the Virgin Mary.  But why is it important for us, as Christians, to acknowledge the virgin birth.  This can be summed up in three points.

First it is important because it shows that our salvation comes from God, not from man.  If Jesus was not brought to us in this special way, in this miraculous way, then our salvation would not be from God.  God promised us in Genesis 3:15 that our Lord would come from the “seed” of a woman, but this could not happen without the supernatural intervention of God.  Nothing on this earth could have brought about the payment for our sins, only the efforts of God Himself could do this.

Second, Jesus being born of a virgin makes Him fully man, born of Mary, and fully God, conceived by God.  If Jesus were not fully man, He could not have lived our experiences, felt our grief, and suffered the consequences for our sins.  However, if He had not been fully God, he would have been imperfect and not able to atone for our sins.  Prophetically Jesus needed to be fully human, a descendent of Adam, in order to bring about our atonement.

And lastly, Jesus’ humanity through Mary, but His conception through God, made Him free from the inherited sin of Adam. Jesus, because He was God and from God did not inherit the corruption of sin, nor the guilt of sin that rests on all mankind. In Luke 1:35 the angel Gabriel says to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”  This passage tells us that Jesus was innately holy and was morally pure.  Because Jesus was not born of a human father but rather of God breaks the human line of inherited sin.

I marvel at the love our Heavenly Father.  He loved us so much that He sent His son to pay the price for our sins.  He loved us so much, that He conceived His son as a real human child, without human sin, who could experience the pains of this world.  Jesus thirsted, he wept, he got hungry, and he learned and grew strong.  In every way but carrying sin, Jesus was a man.  He was perfectly man and perfectly God because of the virgin birth.  So as we go into this Christmas season, a season filled with gifts and frivolity, let’s not forget to remember what this season is really all about.  This season brings to memory the beginning of God’s redemptive work and the beginning of our justification through faith in this man, the one true God we know as Jesus!

Before your head hits the pillow

God Isn’t Fixing This

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God Isn’t Fixing This donned the front page of the New York Daily News the day after the horrific shooting in San Bernardino, California.

The days that ensued were full of politicians telling us what they believe our country needs to solve this problem. One after another I heard them say, “Thinking about the victims and praying for them is not enough, we need to take action!”  I didn’t hear this from one politician, I heard it from several, like it was part of a talking points memo.

The fact of the matter is, the ONLY thing that can fix this is GOD!  These things are not happening because we have too many guns or because one race does not get along with another.  These things are happening because this country, in large proportions, has decided to turn its back on God.

Our children are no longer allowed to pray in school.  Many are threatened if they take their Bible to school. Communities are told that they can no longer put up nativity scenes on the court house lawns as they have been accustomed to doing for years.  Public school music programs are void of Christian carols like Silent Night or Oh Come All Ye Faithful.  Even though you can find a marble figure of Moses holding the Ten Commandments on east pediment of the Supreme Court, courts throughout the country are now told that the Ten Commandments are forbidden.  In God we Trust, our national motto, is inscribed in letters of gold behind the Speakers rostrum in the U.S. House chamber.  In the National Archives you will find a bronze design on the floor of the rotunda that contains the Ten Commandments.  Carved inside the Washington Monument are many Godly messages like “Holiness to the Lord,” “Search the Scriptures,” and “May heaven to this union continue to its beneficence.”

But now we are told that God has no place in the public square.  So maybe God isn’t going to fix this because our country has turned its back on Him.  But 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  I understand that we are not God’s chosen people as were the people of Israel to whom this message was given.  But as Christians we ARE God’s people and He would do the same for this land if we would turn from our wicked ways and seek His face.

Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil,  A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.”  I am afraid that his country has fallen into many things that God hates.  We have become arrogant and self-centered.  Under the protection of this country’s laws and courts we shed the innocent blood of thousands of unborn children each day. And we have run rapidly into redefining the definition of marriage, a sacred union created by God Himself.

But all of those who said that thinking and praying isn’t enough are probably right as well.  I don’t think that their suggested action of gun control is the answer.  The action that is however necessary is a revival.  This country needs a spiritual awakening.  The evil that brings about a shooting in San Bernardino or racial unrest in Missouri all stems from the same place.  It stems from a lack of peace that comes from a lack of union with God.

The action that needs to be taken in this country is for Christians to rise up and bring the Good News of Christ to everyone they meet.  If we want our country back, we need to be willing to bring Christ into our places of work, into the gym where we work out, and into our social clubs.  Keeping the gospel pent up inside the four walls of the church building will not bring the healing we need for this land.

So no, prayer and thoughts are not enough to solve the evil that exists in our country.  It is time for the United States of America to see God.  And the primary way they will see God is through the actions of His children.  Bring the love of God into your communities.  Show His love and His mercy to those around you. Bring His message of hope to the lost.  Let’s start a revival!

Before your head hits the pillow

What About the Fourth Commandment?

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I have been asked to write about the fourth commandment.  For those of you who know them by heart and know them in order, you will know that this is the commandment that tells us to “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it.”

The Sabbath day to the Jewish people was the seventh day.  It was Saturday.  Many people believe that in order to completely honor this commandment, one must worship and attend church on Saturday and that setting aside Sunday to do so is a sin.

Nine of the Ten Commandments are reiterated in the New Testament.  But the one not reaffirmed was the fourth commandment about the Sabbath.  Jesus did however say that He was the Lord of the Sabbath in Matthew 12:8.

The New Testament also states that, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”  God rested on the seventh day, but He certainly didn’t need to for He is all powerful and never becomes weary.  But God knew that man needed to rest.  He knew we needed a day to focus on Him.  He knew we needed a day to not only renew our bodies but to renew our souls as well.

Romans 14:5-6 says this about setting a day apart, “One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike.  Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind.  He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.”

Colossians 2:16-17 speaks further on the matter, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day– things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.” The important thing is not what day your worship but that you worship Christ, for Christ is the real Sabbath.

I think it matters little what day a person chooses to set aside for God, what is important is that one is set aside.  What is important is that we have a day of rest, a day for renewal and regeneration.

So why did so many people begin worshipping on Sunday?  It appears that many of the early Christians chose to worship on Sunday because that was the day of Jesus’ resurrection.  We know that they worshipped on Sunday for we read it in Acts 20:7 when it says. “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.”  Breaking bread meant that they were celebrating the Lord’s Supper or Communion, which they did when they gathered to worship.

I Corinthians 16:1-2 Paul instructed the church to collect money on the first day of the week, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.”  The early church gathered on the first day of the week.

Ezekiel 20:12 says that the Sabbath was a sign between God and man so that man would know that it was God who sanctified them.  But we are now under a new covenant.  The real Sabbath is Jesus.  Our rest must come in Jesus.

Some people believe that worshiping on Saturday is a matter of salvation.  I do not agree with that assertion.  If we believe that the day we worship the Lord can determine our salvation or lack thereof then we are putting salvation into our own hands and not in the hands of the giver of grace, our God.

So if someone believes that they should worship on Saturday, then I believe that is fine.  But for someone to say that worshipping on Sunday is contrary to the fourth commandment, then I think they do not fully understand the new covenant of grace.  The early disciples gathered for worship on Sunday as a celebration of the resurrected Christ.  So I too believe that worshipping on Sunday is perfectly fine.  What is important in this debate is that we worship, that we set aside a day of rest.  That we renew our minds, bodies, and spirits by pondering on our holy God and His redemptive power.