An After Advent Exhortation | Sunday, December 26, 2021

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Thank you for being with us!

If you're watching this on the day that this is broadcast, happy Boxing Day to you! Although that's not really a thing in my country, this is Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. All the lead-up to Christmas is done. After all the parties and after all the presents, here we are now, after Advent.

The prophets predicted that the Prince of Peace would come. They foretold that one who was the hope of all Israel would arrive in Bethlehem. He would be born of a virgin; he would be the only begotten Son of the Most High God. Just as the prophets predicted, just as they foresaw, Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, which we celebrated yesterday with our close friends and family.

After he was born, after the shepherds visited, after Jesus was circumcised and dedicated at the temple, and after the devout man of God Simeon's prophecy and Anna's blessing and testimony, Luke writes in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verse 39: "So when they had performed all the things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him."

That's it. The whole nativity story, the Christmas story, ends right there. Not a lot of fanfare; it just says that they returned to Galilee, their own city of Nazareth. When they got back to Nazareth, Mary and Joseph presumably married one another and had more children. Jesus had brothers; two of them we know their names were James and Jude. The Gospels also tell us that they had sisters.

Joseph taught Jesus his trade, carpentry, and Jesus grew, as the Gospel says. He became strong in spirit; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. The family of Jesus was, for all intents and purposes, just like all the other families in Israel in the first century. They went to synagogue on the Sabbath and observed and celebrated the holy days. The Gospel of Luke says that his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of Passover.

Jesus was, in so many ways, just normal. I think that sometimes we forget this. Sometimes we fail to realize that Jesus was fully man. That's not to say that Jesus wasn't fully God. The teaching of the Church from the very beginning has been that Jesus was fully God and fully man. In fact, pretty much the biggest discussion in the Church for the first 200-plus years was about the nature of Jesus. He was and is fully God and fully man, but we can't forget that he was a Jewish man who lived in relative obscurity for nearly the first 30 years of his roughly 33-year life. More than 90 percent of Jesus's life was lived in basic obscurity.

We aren't given many details about his early life. We know that he was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, trained as a carpenter, and taught to observe the Sabbath. He observed the feasts with his family, grew, and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

Luke's Gospel says in chapter 2, verse 42, "And when he was 12 years old, they, his family, went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother did not know it, but supposing him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey and sought him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking him."

Now, so it was that after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. When they saw him, they were amazed. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously."

Jesus said to them, "Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" But they did not understand the statement which he spoke to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart.

Again, we read that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. This is really about all we know about Jesus's youth. He was strong in spirit.

Filled with wisdom and favored by both God and men, Jesus astonished the priests in the temple with his questions and answers. He amazed his parents, Mary and Joseph. He understood who he was; he knew that his Father was God the Father. He knew that he should be about his Father's business, the business that he was committed to.

Think about this: more than 90 percent of Jesus's life was lived in relative obscurity. Only three of his 33 years have any historical record, and even the record that we do have, when you consider the length of it in the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—is proportionally small. Yet, the man Jesus of Nazareth has reordered and transformed all of human history. This is, of course, because Jesus is no ordinary man; he is the God-man come to do his Father's business.

In his book, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible, apologist and author Jay Warner Wallace chronicles many of the ways that Jesus has reordered and transformed human history. Wallace highlights how Jesus changed the arts, music, literature, science, education, and virtually every other aspect of culture throughout nearly the whole world, especially in Western culture. But really, throughout the whole world, Jesus has reordered and transformed the world. He has done so at the macro or global level, but he has also done so at the micro and local level in our communities and in our own lives.

Specifically, Jesus reorders and transforms us as individuals. He makes us whole, and he makes us wholly new. This is why the Apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." If you have received Christ and the gift of his grace and salvation, then you have been made whole and holy new in him.

With this in mind, on this last Sunday of 2021, I want to key in on two passages that I just looked at a moment ago in Luke chapter two. There are two things that the Spirit inspired Luke to write about Jesus as he was a child. Remember, there is not a lot that we know about Jesus as he was a child, but we read these words in...

Luke chapter 2, verses 39 and 40, and verses 51 and 52, provide important insights. We read, "So when they had performed all these things according to the law," referring to Jesus' circumcision and dedication, "they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the child Jesus grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him."

In verse 51, we see that after Jesus had been in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover at the age of twelve, he went down with his family and came to Nazareth, where he was subject to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart. Again, in verse 52, we read, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."

Why do I point out these passages? Why do I want to direct your attention to them today? Because if you are in Christ, if you have seen your life begin to be reordered and transformed by His grace, then I believe it is God's desire for you and for me in this next year, as we end 2021 and come into 2022, to reorder and transform us so that we become strong in spirit, full of wisdom, and grow in grace.

If Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, needed to become strong in spirit, full of wisdom, and to increase in grace, then it is certain that I need to do so as well. The thirty years of Jesus' life that led up to the beginning of His ministry at His baptism with John the Baptist was a time when Jesus was growing, becoming strong in spirit, full of wisdom, and increasing in the grace of God.

This is my prayer for us as a church as we move into 2022: that we would grow in grace, that we would grow in wisdom, and that we would become more filled with the Holy Spirit as a church and as individuals within the church. This was certainly the way that the Apostle Paul, Pastor Paul, prayed for the churches he ministered among two thousand years ago. I want to read to you from some of his letters in the New Testament.

In the New Testament, we find the prayers that Paul prays in three different passages: Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. I will read these passages, which are somewhat long, but I hope you'll follow along. If you have a Bible, you can open to Ephesians chapter one.

We read Paul's prayer for the Christians in Ephesus, beginning in verse 15. It states, "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." Here is Paul's prayer: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age that is to come."

Next, we have Paul's prayer for the church at Philippi in Philippians chapter one, beginning in verse nine. There we read, "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and in all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

Finally, we look at one more of Paul’s prayers to the church at Colossae in Colossians chapter one, beginning in verse nine. It states, "For this reason we also, since the day that we heard of your faith, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

I know that those passages are a bit long, but Paul's prayers for the Christians in Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae reflect my prayer for our church at Cross Connection. Not only is it my prayer, but I believe it is God's desire for us. His desire is that we would grow in grace and grow in wisdom.

We would have a greater experience of the fullness of the Spirit of God in 2022. So the question is: how does that actually happen? How will we see the fullness of the Spirit in our lives more in 2022? How will we grow in grace and wisdom?

As I've shared many times, especially in the last half of the year in the series we've done in the second half of 2021, God is going to be working in us, and we have to work these things out. Just as Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 2, beginning in verse 12, he says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." At the end of verse 12, he adds, "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure." God works His forgiving grace and salvation into us, and we are to work these things out in our daily lives as we are enabled and empowered by His Spirit to do so.

But what does that practically look like? To answer that question, I want to look at another large section from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians. I believe that Paul's answer to that question is really found in this passage. It's found in other places as well, but Colossians chapter 3, beginning at verse 1, is one of the places that I think God's Spirit would have us look at as we're getting ready to step into a new year.

In Colossians chapter 3, Paul writes this, beginning at verse 1: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved...

Beloved, put on tender mercies, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you are also called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

There are a lot of things in those 17 verses, more than I can adequately unpack in the time that I have remaining today. But in that passage, there are nine imperatives. I'm going to do my best to condense all of that down. Nine times in these 17 verses, Paul commands our willful obedience, and the nine imperatives are all conditioned or prefaced by Paul's opening clause where he says, "If then you were raised with Christ."

I can't reiterate this point enough: your salvation, if you have trusted in Christ and received His salvation, is not conditioned upon your obedience. You're not saved because you obey, but you are saved, and I'm saved, unto obedience. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, tells us that through Christ we have received grace for salvation. So, we've received grace and salvation, and then he says this in Romans chapter 1, verse 5: "You have received grace for obedience to the faith."

The Apostle Peter implies the very same thing when he writes in 1 Peter chapter 1 that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctification of the Spirit for obedience. Paul, in Ephesians chapter 2, says that we are saved for good works, not by our good works.

So, if you were raised with Christ, if you have been saved, then what is your response, or what should your response be? How do we grow in grace? How do we become strong in the Spirit and full of wisdom, just as Jesus did, as we read in Luke chapter 2? Well, I'm going to sum up the answer to that question here from Colossians.

Chapter 3, verses 1 through 17, outlines four simple steps for our transformation. Paul's four simple steps for transformation are to seek, to set, to put off, and to put on. It's very simple: seek, set, put off, put on. These are the four simple steps if you want your life to be reordered and transformed. If you want to grow in grace, be strong in the Spirit, and be full of wisdom, then these things are essential.

The first step is to seek those things which are above. Paul said it like this in that passage: "If you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God." If you're a Christian, then you are to seek those things which are above. The word translated "seek" is also defined as "to aim at," and I really like that idea of aiming. Jesus uses this same word when He taught His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 6, He said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." If your aim is off, your life will be off. If you find yourself in the wrong place, doing, thinking, or saying the wrong things, then it is highly likely that you're not seeking those things which are above. You're not seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So, we need to seek those things which are above.

Secondly, we need to set our mind on things above, not on the things of the earth. This really is just a parallel step to the first one. While I mentioned there are four steps, these first two are joined together; they are parallel thoughts. So, seek those things which are above and set your mind on things which are above. It's just a different way of saying the same exact thing. If the first clause was about your attention and your focus, then this clause is about your mindset. What is your mind set upon? What are you mindful of?

Peter was rebuked by Jesus because he had the wrong mindset. In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus turned to Peter and said to him, "Get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me because you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of man." To the Christians in Rome, Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8, verse 5: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of..."

The spirit, for to be carnally minded or earthly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The carnal mind is at enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Therefore, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The simple steps of transformation begin with focus, attention, aim, and mindset. What is your aim? What is your mindset? Show me a person who is immature in their faith or backsliding in their faith, and I will show you a person whose aim and mindset are misplaced. They are focused on the wrong things.

Just as the first two steps of transformation go together—set your mind on things above and seek those things which are above—so do the next two of these four steps. Paul's next step, the third step, is to put off the old man. He says in Colossians 3:4 that Christ will one day appear, and when He does, you will be with Him in glory. Since that is true, since we have this hope of being with the Lord for eternity, Paul says in verse 5, "Therefore, because you have this hope, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds.

These things in this passage are imminently practical. Most of the things that Paul says we are to put to death in verse 5 are basically sexual in nature. For example, the Greek word translated "fornication" is the Greek word "porneia," which sounds familiar. The words "uncleanness," "passion," and "evil desire" are all connected to sexually immoral acts in the Scriptures. Paul's command is that these things be dealt with with deadly seriousness in our lives.

Put to death your members which are on the earth. Why should we deal so seriously with these things in our lives? Because these things are the very things that invite the wrath of God upon unbelievers, so they should not be in any way even named in the lives of believers.

But notice that Paul says you yourselves once walked in these things, but now you've been raised with Christ and will one day be with Him in glory. So stop it. Stop engaging in these sexually immoral things.

The practicality from Paul continues in this section about the things that we are to put off. Paul moves away from issues of sexual immorality and commands that we put off things like anger. If you have a bad temper and desire retribution, Paul says stop it. He says put away wrath. If you are given to fits of rage, stop it. He says put off malice.

Maybe you are kind of congratulating yourself right now because you don't visibly lose your cool and get angry with outbursts of rage, but internally you are wishing harm upon others and you have ill will towards people in your life. The Scriptures say that's malice, and they say that we are to put that away. If you are a Christian, if you are in Christ, you are not to have malice, nor are you to have blasphemy.

Now you may be thinking, "Well, this is one thing I would never do," because you are thinking of blasphemy only in how it is speaking disrespectfully or wickedly against God. However, there is a blasphemy that is not directed at God; it is a blasphemy that is directed as slanderous gossip spoken against anyone. So if you find yourself speaking slanderously or gossiping against other people, the Scriptures make very clear that you should stop doing that.

Then Paul talks about filthy language—simply abusive or obscene foul language. He says stop it. If you are given to lying and not telling the truth, stop it. By God's grace and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, you can put off the old man. You can and you must put off the old man if you are going to grow in grace and in wisdom and in stature with God and man.

Then you must put off the old man. The fourth thing in this step is to seek those things which are above. Set your mind on things which are above. Put off the old man and finally put on the new man.

Colossians chapter 3, verse 12 states, "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

I don't think that these things really require much explanation, but they are essential. God, by His grace and the enabling power of His Holy Spirit, can give you the ability to put off the old man and put on the new man. You can, by God's enabling power, put on kindness, mercy, meekness, patience, long-suffering, and love. All of these things are not only things we can do, but we ought to do them as well.

As you do these things, you will be letting the peace of God rule in your heart and the word of God dwell in you richly. In 2022, this is what I believe God desires for us to do. He is giving His power, by His Spirit in us, to put off the old man and put on the new man. We are called to set our minds on things above, not on the things of this earth, and to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. As we do this, God will be perfecting holiness in us by His Spirit.

Notice what Paul says as he wraps this passage up. In Colossians chapter 3, verse 14, he writes, "But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection." He continues, "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were also called in one body, and be thankful." Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. As we move into a new year this next week, stepping into 2022, we must acknowledge that 2020 and 2021 have brought a lot of division within the body of Christ. I have seen this division in the larger body of Christ, the Church, but we even see it in local churches throughout our community.

There is not a single church in our community, or really nationwide, that has not been affected by this division—division over COVID, division over politics, division over race, and division over all kinds of different issues. This wedge of division has caused Christians to disconnect from one another. I believe that God wants to do a work in us, but that is only going to happen as we seek first His kingdom, set our minds on things above, and put off the old man, which loves to cause division through anger, wrath, malice, and all these different things. We must put on the new man.

As we put on love, which Paul says is the bond of perfection, and as we allow God's peace to rule in our hearts, it makes it possible for us to live as one body in Christ. God's word dwelling in us richly, in all wisdom, enables us to challenge, encourage, and admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as Paul says in this passage.

Our church has been focused for many years on this clear mission: life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. We are going to talk a little bit more about this after the New Year because we begin every year discussing our vision and mission as a church. However, that life in connection with God and with one another is not possible if we are not putting off the old man and putting on the new man.

In 2022, I believe that God wants us to grow in wisdom, love, and stature, and in grace with God and with all men. But that growth will not happen if we are not seeking first the kingdom of God, setting our minds on things above, and putting off the old man to put on the new man. May it be by God's grace that we do just that.

Father God, I pray for your church as we are here at the end of another year. As we prepare to go into a new year, which for some people is not really a big thing—just a date, just a transition of the year—I pray, God, that it would be an opportunity for us to make a new and fresh start.

Maybe people will be making all kinds of plans, goals, or aims for the new year in the form of New Year's resolutions. But, Lord, I pray that more than anything, we would resolve to seek first your kingdom, set our minds on things above, put off the old man, and put on the new man. I pray that we would grow in wisdom, be filled with your Spirit, and that the fruit of the Spirit would be evident in our lives and our interactions with one another.

So, God, would you do a work in me? Do a work in my brothers and sisters within your church. As you work in us in this way, cause us to shine brightly in a world that so desperately needs your love and your grace. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Silent night, beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Thanks for joining us for our broadcast today. As we close, we would love to invite you to our services at Cross Connection Church campus at 8:30 and 10:30 every Sunday. If you'd like more information about Cross Connection Church, go online at lifeinconnection.com.

Hey, Cross Connection! Hope you guys had a great Christmas. We're looking forward to New Year's right around the corner. If you're looking for a couple of opportunities to get plugged into Cross Connection Church, there are a couple we want to offer you.

First, if you're looking to serve, we have a couple of openings with our video ministry here at Cross Connection Church. No previous video skills are required. You can sign up at events.lifeinconnection.com.

Second, we have a couple of Bible studies coming up—one just for the gals and one for the whole church at large. Check those out at events.lifeinconnection.com. They're going to be starting up with the new year, so you don't want to miss out. Sign up for those again at events.lifeinconnection.com.