Behind Day 24 of my Advent Calendar
THE CROSS
Some years ago at our daily get together over coffee, I announced to my former work colleagues how I was really rather enjoying Justin Bieber’s Christmas album. There followed an embarrassed silence, one that I did not fully understand until that evening when I got home and realised my mistake. I had confused my Justin Bieber’s with my Michael Bublé’s!
That was an embarrassing Christmas mistake, one that I was quick to put right the very next morning!
But it is not as big a mistake as the one that some might think I’ve been making this month by writing so much about my Christian faith. But in a world in which we are all too often encouraged to be strong, the reality is that in and of myself, strong is exactly what I’m not. From time to time life feels beyond me but my faith brings with it the realisation that, when I’m feeling overwhelmed it’s not all down to me. It gives me the encouragement I need to keep on in the face of ongoing difficulty and reminds me that hardships aren’t some kind of anomaly.
On the contrary they are to be expected. And when life itself is just too sad, it is my faith that gives me the assurance that even as we suffer and are sorrowful we can still hope and rejoice in the better future that I believe is surely coming, one in which every tear will be wiped away.
And so this Christmas, that time we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, I have been anxious to share good news. Not only because I find it helpful but because I believe it to be true. And so I am not ashamed of the gospel, believing it to be the power of God for salvation for those who believe. In other words I believe it has the power to make a real difference, not only in the lives of those who don’t yet believe it, but those who, like me, do, but need to be constantly reminded of just how good the good news is.
So I’m going to embarrass myself one last time by saying that I really do believe the message that those angels brought to the shepherds that first Christmas night. I believe that the birth of a Saviour is good news ‘for all the people’, even for those of us who are worn out and exhausted. Indeed it is, perhaps, when life is at its hardest, when sadness and suffering are all around, that our need for Christmas and the hope it brings is most obvious.
So what exactly is meant by the ‘gospel’, a word that simply means ‘good news’? It is an important question to ask because the gospel is so often misunderstood, even by those who regularly attend church. Too many confuse the law with the gospel and end up believing that, to be right with God, they need to keep all of his commandments and only by being sufficiently successful in that endeavour will they earn their way into heaven.
Now don’t misunderstand what I am saying here – God’s law is good and, as well as repenting of the times we have wilfully ignored what it says and gone our own way instead, we should absolutely strive to keep its commands. But the gospel is the good news that God has done something to rectify the situation when we inevitably fail to do so.
Even so, many of us do seem intent on living a life of continuous struggle. And so, not content with trying to satisfy the just requirements of God’s law, we burden ourselves further by attempting to present ourselves as better than we really are to those whose love we crave. We live in a world that constantly demands that we are awesome. And what a burden this is for those of us who know how far short we fall, who recognise our weakness and our need for help.
With this in mind I have noticed lately a tendency for some to encourage friends who are facing great difficulties with the words ‘You’ve got this’. I don’t doubt that such expressions are well intentioned but I wonder how they are received by those who feel lost, confused and powerless, those who feel out of control and are all too well aware that they haven’t ‘got it’ at all. At such times, rather than being told that we can do what we know we can’t, how much better it would be to hear that what we need to do has already been done for us by somebody who really can?
And that, in short, is the gospel. The good news is that God has done what we can not.
But what exactly has God done? To some the answer may sound like foolishness, at least it did to those who, back in the first century when Paul was writing, considered themselves wise. But as the apostle wrote back then, ‘the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men’ [1 Corinthians 1:25].
What Paul was referring to was the cross on which Jesus was crucified. For this was an act that, despite its apparent foolishness and weakness was the means by which God wisely chose to show his strength. For violent and bloody though it was, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was the means by which the penalty that was rightly ours was paid. It was on the cross that a righteous God’s need for justice was satisfied, and our peace with God was secured.
The law then reveals to us what God demands – demands that we cannot keep however hard we try. In contrast, the gospel tells us that dispute our sinfulness, God loves us, and sent his son into the world to save us.
The gospel is the news that by living a perfect life, Jesus kept the law that we could not, it is the news that a great exchange has taken place such that we are robed in Christ’s righteousness even as our sinfulness is laid on Jesus, it is the news that, because Jesus allowed himself to be crucified in our place, bearing the punishment we deserved, we are counted right with God.
Some will indeed say this is foolishness, but it is through such apparent foolishness that we have been redeemed and a great salvation has been a secured, one that, as well as guaranteeing the forgiveness of our sins, promises a future devoid of sickness, sadness and death. [Revelation 21:4].
How then should we respond to this good news. A story Jesus once told might help. This is what he said in Luke 18:10-14.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus is describing two types of people. The Pharisees were the religious types who prided themselves on how well they kept the law. The one spoken of in this story seems particularly pleased with himself and clearly thinks God should be impressed by his performance. In contrast the tax collector, one of that group of people hated even more in Jesus’ day than they are in ours, recognises his sinfulness and, rather than trusting in his performance, appeals instead to God’s mercy and his willingness to forgive.
When Jesus says it was the tax collector who was justified, he is using a word that means that it was he who was counted right before God. And so you see what Jesus is saying – since nobody but Jesus himself was truly good, it is not by keeping the law that we are saved. On the contrary, rather than reaching a certain level of awesomeness, it is by humbling ourselves before God, by recognising our weakness and our need for mercy, that we are reconciled to the God who really does love us in the way we all so long for.
I for one am pleased that this is the case because I haven’t got what it takes. The truth is I haven’t ‘got this’ – but I am glad that God has. Perhaps you will consider it foolishness on my part, but rather than pretend that I can cope, I am content to leave things in the hands of the one who really does know what he’s doing. This doesn’t mean that everything in this life will necessarily work out the way I would like it to, after all, as the old hymn goes, ‘God works in a mysterious way his wonders to perform’. Even so, in difficult days it helps me to know that, because he is good and because he is strong, what God ultimately brings about really will be for the best, irrespective of how unfathomable current circumstances might sometimes be.
And I hope this Christmas, that this might help you too. For God really can be trusted and those who do will surely find that the foolishness of God really is wiser than the wisdom of man. God really does ‘have this’ and he has you too – safe in his everlasting arms.
This is the hope of Christmas.
***
So with all that said, it only leaves me to thank those of you who have stayed with me these last twenty four days, and to wish you all, irrespective of your current circumstances, the merriest of Merry Christmases and the happiest of Happy New Years.
Because, as I hope I’ve made plain, Christmas really can cheer the broken-hearted, and rest merry even the most downcast.
Now, how long is it till the 40 days of Lent!
*****
And so to our final song selection. I did consider choosing ‘I Wish It it Could Be Christmas Every Day’ because, in a way, one day it will be, only more so – because heaven will have none of the disappointments that inevitably characterise the Christmases we currently experience.
But in the end it had to be Slade’s classic form 50 years ago. So ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ and, as the song suggests, ‘look to the future’ – because of Jesus, it really is going to be ALL right!
Take it away Noddy!
Previously from ‘A Christmas Countdown’:
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 23’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 22’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 21’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 20’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 19’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 18’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 17’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 16’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 15, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 14’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 13’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 12’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 11’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 10’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 9’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 8’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 7’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 6’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 5’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 4’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 3’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 2’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 1’, click here
To read ‘An Advent Calendar – Complete’, click here
Some musings 