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Pastor's Point - December 2024

Dear Church Family,

I have started this Christmas season more differently than ever in my life before. I am currently writing this article traveling in Nick’s van for our next ministry assignment on our mission trip in Japan.

Last night we went to Tokyo Dome to see the Illumination. This is a massive display of Christmas lights with synced lights and large LED Christmas Tree. The feeling of Christmas was everywhere, but the true meaning of Christmas was nowhere to be found. Christmas is understood in Japan as a holiday similar to Valentine’s Day in the United States. There were people bustling about everywhere. Young people, couples, older folks, and a great number of businessmen commuting from work to their next stop.

As people were bustling by all around us, we stood in the middle of the crowds passing out a nice bright red bag that said Merry Christmas on the front and contained inside a candy cane and an explanation of the Gospel in Japanese. The phrase “Merry Christmas” is very familiar here which helped us pass out a good number of bags! But the sad reality of the situation is that almost no one understands what the phrase stands for. I am so thankful for the information inside of those bags because the right understanding of Christmas was there for their consideration. I do not know how many will read the information, or would respond in faith to it, but I do know that if they do, God and His Word is powerful to save!

One group that really caught my attention as they passed by was the Japanese businessman. I felt from some a distinct coldness. From others a dazed distant stare, and still others a sense of weariness. Their lives are so busy and structured. They strive for position, money, and success. As they passed by most of them either ignored the offer of our bags or redirected their path not to engage me. It was sad. The bright lights of Christmas glistened all around them, yet they went out of their way to reject the offer of the light of the world.

There is a character in the Japanese language used to express the word “busy”. The character means “to annihilate the soul”. Sadly, I saw exactly what that looked like before my very eyes as these businessmen rushed by me. They could not be busier, but sadly their busyness is what will lead to their destruction. Nothing the world offers us brings peace or everlasting light.

Whether I am in Japan or right here in Evansville, there are people all around us that are “annihilating their souls” with something that the world is offering them. It may be work, pleasure, or some other shiny something that the world offers. The world is so “busy” with all the wrong things. Let’s make sure to offer them the light of the world that brings peace and everlasting life.

I love you and I love being your pastor!

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? -Matthew 16:26 NKJV

Family Ministry Moments - December 2024

It is that time of the year when Christmas dominates our lives.  Each year it seems like the stores put out decorations earlier and earlier.  It also seems like people put out decorations in their homes earlier.  I know some that put up their trees as soon as Halloween is over.  I was always someone who liked to wait until after Thanksgiving.  This year my wife talked me into putting the tree up in the middle of November since Thanksgiving came so late in the month.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, I am not a Grinch.  This year my heart has grown three sizes, and I have enjoyed having the decorations up earlier.  Christmas does bring a certain joy to life so who knows you might find me putting my tree up on November 1st next year. 

Christmas is special not just because of the decorations. The decorations physically mark the change in seasons, but Christmas is special because of Christ.  C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God."  He was pointing out that the union of God and man established in Christ was unique.  I would argue that, more than anything, this is what makes Christmas special.

This union of man and God in Christ is referred to as the hypostatic union. Hypostasis is the Greek work for subsistence. This is important because it helps define the person of Christ.  This is best outlined in the definition that came out of the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, which says in part, “...our Lord Jesus Christ. This same one is perfect in deity, and the same one is perfect in humanity; the same one is true God and true man, comprising a rational soul and a body. He is of the same essence as the Father according to his deity, and the same one is of the same essence with us according to his humanity, like us in all things except sin.”

You might be surprised to learn that the identity of Jesus was a hotly debated topic until it was settled in AD 451.  The view in the Chalcedonian Definition was one held by the apostles and early church fathers but as heretics infiltrated the church false doctrines were spread among the believers.  False teachers stated that Jesus was created by the Father and thus less than God the Father and not truly equal.  Others said Jesus had a human body but not a human mind, thus separating him into two parts. Still, others said that Jesus had two natures stuffed into one body.  These were just some of the heretical views about the identity of Jesus.

Now you might be reading this saying what is the big deal?  It seems like we are splitting hairs.  The problem with the heretical views is when they are played out in the person of Jesus it makes it impossible for Him to be our savior.  For Jesus to accomplish the work of salvation He had to be fully God and fully man.  Thus, the two natures of Jesus occur as one person or one subsistence.  This view supported by Scripture is the only way He could be the one to pay the penalty for sin. Jesus is unique in this way.  There is only one Lord and Savior of the universe.

This is what makes Christmas so special! Jesus didn’t just come as a cute little baby; He came as the fulfillment of all of God’s promises and the only hope of the world.  As Wayne Grudem says, “This is by far the most amazing miracle of the entire Bible- far more amazing than the resurrection and more amazing even than the creation of the universe.  The fact that the Infinite, omnipotent, eternal Son of God could become man and join himself to a human nature forever, so that infinite God becomes one person with finite man, will remain for eternity the most profound miracle and the most profound mystery in all the universe.”

So this Christmas don’t just celebrate the birth of Jesus, celebrate the amazing miracle that is the birth of Jesus! Our salvation, our hope, our everything depends on this amazing miracle.  Let’s remember to worship God this Christmas as the great miracle worker who saved us in this extraordinary way! Merry Christmas!

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21