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An Appeal to Leadership: Listen & Lead Rob Renfroe calls on the United Methodist bishops to direct the church.
Ministering in the jaws of hell Janice Shaw Crouse profiles Jeannine Brabon’s prison ministry.
Carving out new life Carlos Velasquez testifies to finding Christ after working for a drug lord.
Why the Sermon on the Mount demands a cross Riley Case examines Jesus’ thoughts on repentance.
The failure of feminism on campus Terry Mattingly writes on the challenges of young women in college.
COLUMNS
Editorial John Stott and mainline renewal
Next Generation The relationship between pastor and youth pastor
RENEW Women’s Network Changes at the Women’s Division
The Great Commission What’s in a name?
From the Heart Every knee
DEPARTMENTS
Letters to the editor
Straight Talk
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Methodist king of Tonga dies at age 88
Sudan relief continues during uncertain period
News AnalysisSince when is a Planned Parenthood staffer considered a missionary?
In the storage room of our home are five large containers of holiday decorations. I love Christmas! And, I plan for every nook and cranny of our home to prod: "Rejoice! Immanuel has come!"
My favorite decoration is a small tree ornament. It's a porcelain figurine of Santa Claus with his hat off, kneeling before the baby in the manger. It makes me smile because truly every knee will bow.
Each year at Christmas time I ask God to help me prepare my heart to celebrate the incarnation in a worthy manner. Some years that has included intense study of the Scriptures. Sometimes it has meant just being still to capture the wonder of his worth. Recently it has been a look at verses that reveal the Christ. Consider a few of them with me.
Hebrews 1:3a declares: "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.." Colossians 1:15-23 reveals the supremacy of Jesus over everything. And, Isaiah 53:1-12 shows us the suffering servant. It seems difficult to reconcile the paradox of the Supreme One and the Suffering One. I had to ask: could these conflicting words be about the same God-man?
How could it be? The One who is "before all things and holds all things together" (see Colossians 1:17) is also the One "despised" and "esteemed not" (see Isaiah 53:3). The One who is "the first born over all creation" who "created all things, visible and invisible" (see Colossians 1:15-16), is also the One who by "oppression and judgment was taken away" (see Isaiah 53:8). The One whom "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him" (see Colossians 1:19) is the One who "was numbered with the transgressors" (see Isaiah 53:12).
Then I remembered Philippians 2:5-11. Jesus, "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness" (v. 6-7). "He humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross" (v. 8).
The Father's response was simple and direct: "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11a).
Think of it. Jesus who is said by Isaiah to be the "tender shoot," "the root out of dry ground" (Isaiah 53:2a) is the same Jesus who is "the true vine" (John 15:1, 5). That is an exalted name. The Christ who had "no beauty or majesty to attract us to him" (Isaiah 53:2b) is the same One who is "the light of the world" (John 8:12) that attracts everything. The One who "was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent" (Isaiah 53:7) is the "Good Shepherd" (John 10:11). More names lifted high. The One who "was cut off from the land of the living" (Isaiah 53:8) is the "resurrection and the life" (John 11:25-26). A name to be confessed.
In light of all that the Father reveals of his Son, what a shallow substitute Santa represents. How pitiful that the culture around us would choose a fake beard and a flashy red suit over a humble robe of righteousness. How grievous to the Father's heart that his own people might consider settling for a benign figure that requires nothing more of us than milk and cookies.
In his book Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller admits the following: "When I was a kid and, to be absolutely honest, a teenager and perhaps even a young twenty-something, I believed God was like Santa Claus. I realize grown people should not think God is like Santa Claus, but you wouldn't believe how perfectly convenient it was for me to subscribe to the idea. The benefits were astounding. First: To interact with Santa Claus, I did not have to maintain any sort of intimate relationship. Santa simply slipped into the house, left presents, ate half a cookie, then hit the neighbors'.. Second: Santa theology was very black and white; you either made the list or you didn't and if you didn't, it was because you were bad.. Third: He brought presents based on behavior.. Fourth: Kids who were bad got presents anyway."
The incarnation dispels all of that. Our God is personal and longs for intimate connection with us. We make the list based on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He gives us what we don't deserve. That's called grace. And, he doesn't give us what we do deserve. That's called mercy.
It's true that at present not every knee bends for the Christ, but it is also true that in the future every knee will bow. Every knee!
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