Skip to main content

Christmas Fear Grounds Christmas Cheer by Pastor Kevin Feder

By Anonymous
Have you noticed that the original Christmas story was surrounded in controversy, danger, and difficulty and each person who was closest to Christmas encountered fear? The angel told Mary not to be afraid (Luke 1:30). Joseph was told to not be fearful in taking Mary to be his wife (Mathew 1:20). Zechariah encountered an angel when he went to the temple and he feared (Luke 1:11-13). Fear fell upon all the neighbors of Zechariah when he regained his speech and blessed God (Luke 1:65). The shepherds feared in the fields (Luke 2:10) before they were told of the good news of great joy. Let me offer three takeaways:

We Want The Transcendent...But We Don’t
The Bible tells us all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. To encounter God is to encounter his glory. To encounter his glory is to recognize our sin in his presence and this causes fear. 

Christmas highlights the conundrum that sinful humanity is in. We long for the transcendent and supernatural that only God can provide. Yet, we see that humanity in its sin is unable to encounter it. When the aforementioned people encountered God they feared because they were exposed as what they are, sinners who are unworthy and unable to enter the presence of a Holy God. 

God Enters A Broken World To Redeem It
Why would God impregnate Mary by the Holy Spirit before she was married to Joseph? Perhaps it was because had he waited until marriage, the virgin birth theory would lose all credibility. Yet, impregnating Mary prior to marriage caused a lot of fear for both her and Joseph. It even jeopardized the life of Jesus as Mary faced the death penalty for what seemed like adultery (Deuteronomy 22:21). Jesus enters the world and is immediately subject to its brokenness the same way Mary and Joseph are subject to its brokenness. By so doing, he is able to redeem people not only of their sin but of the brokenness it causes as well. 

Christmas Fear Grounds Christmas Cheer 
Perhaps the stable, with its stench and noise, reveals the attitude of the world and condition of the human heart towards God: there is no room for you. Yet God has brought us a baby, not a warrior. Perhaps the baby God has sent brings humanity to the realization and relief that God has come to make peace, not war. Thus, Christmas fear gives way to Christmas cheer when we hold the baby in our arms and we are lured to find forgiveness from God in Christ. Christmas is the time where sinful humanity has encountered the holy God, and lived! By so doing, Christmas satisfies the human longing for what is transcendent. All glory to God because he alone has done it!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Worship Songs, October 15, 2017

By
We post these worship songs leading up to the worship service so that parents may listen to them in the house or in the car within the days leading up to the worship service. Our hope is that children will hear the songs prior to and it will prepare them to participate in worship on Sunday mornings. My Redeemers Love Hope Has Come I Will Glory In My Redeemer Blessed Be Your Name Here In Your Presence Your Glory Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest) -- Sermon Text: John 11:1-16 That the next generation will set their hope in God and not forget the works of God (Psalm 78:7).
Post a Comment
Read more

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

By
  One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF.  However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive.   I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church.  In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority.  Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

By
“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit.  Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vendi...
Post a Comment
Read more