Christmas Colors - Red

Devotional for December 3-9, 2007

 

Day One                      Hopeless Efforts

My van has become a great faith builder in my life and in the life of anyone who depends upon the van and me.  Every morning, as I go out to the van, I begin to say a little prayer.  Actually it is more of a chant, “Please start, please start, please start…”   This goes on until I am in the van and place the key in the ignition.  I then take a deep breath and observe a moment of silence.  Then the moment of true faith, I begin to turn the key.  It never starts the first time.  I push on the gas a couple of times and then quit for a moment.  I then begin my second round of prayer/chant, “Start, start,” this time I am not quite so polite, “start.”  I once again turn the key and the cranking sound usually (not always, but usually) has a little more promise this time.  At this moment I step heavily on the gas, and if everything works as planned, there is a loud pop and then the car begins to make a sound that indicates that my faith has been well founded. 

 

The problem with this method of operation is that each time throughout the day that I have to stop and get out of the car, I have to turn the car off.  Each time I turn it off, I know that once I reenter the car, we will have to go through the same starting process again.  While I receive great comfort each time the ignition and the motor have an agreement to start, in the back of my mind, I know that it will not be long before we have to go through the entire process again.  It is never-ending.

 

In the Old Testament we see a never-ending process that the followers of God had to go through.  This process though had a much greater significance than the mere running of a vehicle.  In Leviticus we see the instruction that the people were given regarding how to make offering sacrifices to God.  There were five basic types of these sacrifices.  There were Burnt Offerings, Grain Offerings, and Fellowship Offerings which were basically forms of worship and thanksgiving to God (this is a very quick and simple explanation of these three types of sacrifice).  Then there was the Guilt Offering which was for a sin that would also require the person, or people, to make restitution for what they had done in addition to making the sacrifice.  The fifth sacrifice offering was called the Sin Offering.  This offering was a sacrifice for sin where restitution was not possible.

 

While all of the offerings took place frequently, the Guilt and the Sin offering were never-ending.  There was never a time when they no longer had to make these offerings to atone for their sin.  As long as they sinned, they had to make the offerings.  As long as others sinned, they had to make the offerings.  In addition to this they had to be concerned about their religious leaders’ sin, when that happened there was more sacrifice required.  Read Leviticus 4 just to get a taste of the extent and content of the requirements of the Sin Offering.

 

How do you think they felt about themselves and their relationship with God when they had to continually make these sacrifices?

 

How do you think they felt when they had to also make sacrifices for their communities?

 

What level of confidence do you think they had in their sacrifices if they could be corrupted by sinful priests?

 

How do you compare this type of attitude toward God to how you feel God looks at your sin?

 

How do you compare this type of faith living with your ability to stand individually before God and not on the basis of other humans?

 

Why are these sacrifices not a daily reality for you?

 

Day Two         Trust in Humans

A year from now our nation will have decided on a new president that will lead us for the next four years.  I don’t know about you, but I am ready for us to be at that place just so we will no longer have to hear about all the candidates.  Never in history has an election begun so early and involved so many at such a level of intensity.  We have already had many debates from both political parties and much speculation regarding front runners and possible contenders. 

While you may have a favorite, you will also admit that none of the candidates are the final answer for our nation.  While the final winner may be a wonderful person, an outstanding leader, and even a person of great moral and ethical character, in the end they will still be human.  And, history has proven to us that humans are flawed.

 

That is the reason the sacrifices that we saw yesterday are endless, they are not perfect.  Since they are not perfect, they are not lasting.  Since they are not lasting they do not ever completely do the job.  No matter how flawless they seem, in the end they are not perfect enough.

 

We also saw yesterday, that the human aspect of the sacrificial offerings makes them all the more suspect.  Even the priests had to have special instruction regarding their sin sacrifices when they had sinned.  There is no human that we can look to who is without fault.

 

There is no human, that is, except for the Messiah.  What did the prophesy regarding the coming Messiah say in Isaiah 9:6?

 

What do you think each of the following descriptive terms mean?  And, what do they mean in reference to what we learned about the need for sacrifice?

 

            Wonderful Counselor

 

            Mighty God

 

            Everlasting Father

 

            Prince of Peace

 

How was the coming Messiah a light of hope for the people who had been living through the never-ending process of sacrificial offerings?

 

Day Three       Preparation

Fourteen years ago during this time I was in great preparation mode.  I spent a lot of time each day answering questions about flowers and cake and cups and napkins.  I was recruiting best men and ushers and singers and musicians.  There were invitations and thank yous and tuxedos and shoes.   There was counseling and reading, survey and evaluations.   I was getting prepared.  While I thought I understood all that I was preparing for, I later learned that I had little idea all that marriage would truly hold, but I got prepared in the best way that I could.

 

Thirteen years ago, there was a totally different type of preparation underway.  This preparation involved breathing exercises and strollers, baby beds and bassinettes.  There were decorations and clothes, doctor appointments and blood tests.  There was eating and throwing up and eating again.  I didn’t understand all that was about to happen, but I was getting ready for the birth of my first son.

 

Now if I was going through all of this, just imagine what Andrea encountered!

 

Anyway, life changes require life preparation.

 

The coming of the Messiah required no less preparation.  Read Mark 1:1-8 to see what the preparation for the coming Messiah involved.

 

Why do you think this was the necessary preparation for the people to prepare for the coming Christ?

 

How is this the same preparation that we take part in even today as we prepare to encounter Christ?

 

How does this preparation still exist in your life now?

 

How can this same preparation exist in your Christmas experience?

 

Day Four         Perfect Planning

I married a very clean woman.  I have not always been so clean.  “How many days have you worn those pants?” she asks as I take off my jeans in the evening.  Now, I know that to her, the answer should be, “Just today and I am going to put them in the laundry now to wash them before I wear them again.”  This is not always the truth (don’t think ill of me).  I also have to admit that I sometimes say, “Just since last week…” just to see the look of horror on her face.  She is a very clean person.

 

I kind of knew this even before I was living with her after we were married.  I remember the trepidation that I experienced on our honeymoon when I realized that I had used her toothbrush one morning.  I didn’t admit that to her until… …maybe not until now (oh well, it was going to come out eventually).  She is a very clean person.

 

Recently the schools have been warning the parents of the strain of staph infection that is especially tough to cure with regular antibiotics.  The school administration has sent home notes to parents reminding them of good hygienic practices to avoid the infection.  My kids don’t really see much difference in these new suggestions and their daily life.  Their mom doesn’t need any help in being a clean person.

 

Even though we give Andrea a hard time, we all know that these cleansing practices are for our own protection.   By maintaining cleanliness, by maintaining purity, we are all much healthier and stand a better chance of staying healthy.

 

The introduction of the Messiah, the Christ, into the world required a similar type of precautionary purity.  Read Matthew 1:18-25 to see the instructions God gave regarding the maintenance of the purity of the coming Christ?

 

Why do you imagine these measures were necessary?

 

What is the essential nature of purity for Christ?

 

What is the impact of the purity of Christ on you and your relationship with Him?

 

How does the purity of Christ set Him apart from all other religious leaders and figures?

 

Day Five          The Connection

I recently served as an adult sponsor for Caleb’s art class trip to the OKC Museum of Art.  As the class sat in the lecture hall of the museum awaiting their tour guide, an elderly lady began to explain to the students the exhibit they were about to see.  The exhibit, The Baroque World of Fernando Botero, involved the artist from Mexico who has an unusual way of painting.   He is known for painting the human form but expanding the size of the persons in order to fill up the space.  You really did not need to know this, but I felt that I had a chance of culturally impressing you by sharing my vast artistic knowledge with you.  Anyway, as the lady was educating and preparing the students she suddenly lowered her voice and said, “Now, you need to know that Mr. Botero often painted the people in the nude.”  She said still whispering, “I thought that I would tell you now so that you could get all of your laughing and snickering out of the way before you see the paintings.”

 

I looked around, seeing a room full of seventh grade boys, and thought to myself, “There is no way this woman is making the connection of adolescent boys in a room of naked pictures.  Let alone funny looking, very large and expanded naked pictures.  There is no way on earth that they are going to get their laughter and snickers out of the way!” 

 

I have to say, that once I saw the pictures, there was a part of me that had a difficult time not laughing.  To see these pictures that I would not ever want to see naked, let alone to see them expanded to fill up the canvas, it was tough for anyone not to snicker (even a culturally literate person such as myself).

 

The woman did not make the connection with her audience and the topic.  A connection is not only good, it is usually necessary.

 

What is the connection that is made regarding Christ that is seen in the words of John in John 1:29?

 

What is the impact of this connection as defined by John (in other words, what does he say is the significance of Christ)?

 

What will Christ, years later after this pronouncement by John, do to take away the sins of the world?

 

How is Jesus a different, yet fulfillment, of the Sin Sacrifice we looked at on Day One?

 

What is the impact of Him being this sacrifice mean to you?

 

What is the significance of Christmas to you?