A ONE IN SEVEN CHANCE THAT LIFE HAS MEANING

At the approaching of each years close we have the opportunity to reflect upon our lives in a way that is different from other days throughout the year. Perhaps it has to do with the nostalgia of days past, or the promise of starting anew in the coming year. Whatever the reason we certainly are faced with hopeful messages during the advent season. What is the message you hear at Christmas? Hope, peace, love, the brotherhood of man, setting all differences aside? Does the message promise peace of mind, or peace on earth lasting throughout the year? Does the message and your hope in it last past January?

Alfred Delp writes that during this time of the year we experience contrasting emotions. "We are eager, yet frazzled; sentimental, yet indifferent. One minute we glow at the thought of getting together with our family and friends; the next we feel utterly lonely. Our hope is mingled with dread, our anticipation with despair. We sense the deeper meanings of the season but grasp at them in vain; and in the end, all the bustle leaves us frustrated and drained."

I believe it is possible that even with all the hopeful messages being sung, and caroled to us we can still miss the point. And each advent season I am reminded of the importance of the longing of ancient prophets awaiting the Messiah, and their hope as they longed for the fulfillment of what the foresaw thousands of years before he was born.

"We...are often so dulled by superficial distractions that we are incapable of hearing any voice within, let alone listening to it. Consequently, the feeling we know as Christmas cheer lacks any real connection to the vital spirit that radiated from the manger...Advent marks something momentous: God's coming into our midst...Advent is not merely a commemorative event or an anniversary, but a yearly opportunity for us to consider the future, second Advent, the promised coming of God's kingdom on earth." (Alfred Delp ) That Christ is returning is more than just a promise of glad tidings or peace on earth. His return is the righting of all wrongs, the answer to so many tears shed in a moment of "Why God?" He is coming to complete the good news of the Gospel message. As Christ spoke of Himself in His first advent with the words of Isaiah the prophet "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19). Now on his second advent he will complete the work adding to this quote the rest of Isaiah 61 ending with, "So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations." The hope we are dreaming of, the peace we are hopeful for are coming with the Lord Jesus.

But what about those who would say belief in God is irrational? Take for example the most recent attack on faith. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,450445,00.html

The anti-theists ads that came out this year saying "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake". While the men and women who believe themselves to be agnostic or atheist (I contend it is impossible to be either) certainly desire peace on earth, and good will toward mankind they believe it cannot come from blind faith.

Chuck Colson writes that knowledge of God is innate within humans. (see Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 1:18 and following). He tells us that today "secular biologists and scientists studying the human mind have found strong evidence of this intuitive knowledge...what some have even called the God gene. This need to connect to God and to one another was documented in a recent scholarly study entitled 'Wired to Connect.' We are made to seek meaning beyond ourselves in ways a purposeless, random process could not explain." Colson continues by saying we are made this way because what we long for is real. He adds that C.S. Lewis once commented that we all hunger by nature and food has been made to satisfy our hunger, we are made for it.

One of the anti-theists of our day Richard Dawkins says, "Any God capable of designing a universe, carefully tuned to lead to our evolution, must be a supremely complex and improbable entity that needs an even bigger explanation than the one He is supposed to provide." Dawkins believes God is therefore ruled out by the laws of probability. He simply cannot be God because he is beyond our understanding. But this is the very definition of God. St Anselm proposed so many years ago that God is that which is beyond what the human mind can comprehend. And years before Anselm, Isaiah inspired by God wrote, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord." (55:8).

Dawkins says "that he chooses to live as if God does not exist. But at the same time, he concedes that on a scale of 1 to 7, 1 being certainty that God exists, and 7 certainty He doesn't, Dawkins rates himself a 6, at least acknowledging that he cannot prove his position." (Colson)

A one in seven chance that life has meaning is better than a zero in seven. It was the philosopher Pascal who argues that if there is no God, and you bet your life there is then you have lost nothing. But if there is a God, and you bet your life that there is not, then you have lost everything, making the greatest mistake possible.

Colson adds, "If Dawkins had been on the titanic and was offered two lifeboats, one certain to sink as opposed to one with a one in seven chance of staying afloat, he would have instantly chosen the latter. To choose the boat with no hope would be clearly irrational."

And so it is with us this advent season. As we reflect on hope filled messages we can choose to gamble on the empty promise of peace, comfort and joy from the world which melt away with the spring or trust on Christ and His coming advent in which the Gospel message will find its complete fulfillment.

A SOURCE OF PEACE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

We live in uncertain times. Anxiousness is in the air as we all await a solution to our nations economic problems. The threat of terrorism still lurks around the corner. War continues to rage with the promise of more to come. Even as Americans prepare to elect new leaders in November there is still a sense that our problems are bigger than any administrations solutions. The world looks on and awaits stability, but the more we strive to eliminate the reverberating motion of our problems the more our hands shake in the attempt. We are unable to control completely what is happening around us, and it leads to increased fear, anxiety, and worry.

I am thankful in times like these for the promise of the gospel. When we understand that there is a loving, powerful God who is bigger than our fears, worries, and anxieties then freedom is available. Recently I started a discussion on the gospel and I was encouraged by the responses I have received to the question, "What is the gospel?". Here are some examples of responses:

"because we are enemies in our minds due to evil behavior, Christ has to reconcile us to God through his physical death on the cross and resurrection to present us "holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation" if we "continue in our faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel". col 1:22-23a"

"God had an eternal, loving plan though - since the beginning of time. God chose out of the human race a holy people through which God Himself would enter the human race (through His Son) and make atonement for the sins of the people of the world. God's Son (God in the flesh) came to earth as the awaited Messiah within the Jewish race - Jesus the Christ. Jesus Christ was the perfect, sinless Son of God. Unlike us, it is well documented that He committed no sin. This allowed him to be our "sin bearer" (He would bear the consequences for the sins of the entire world) - the One that would allow Himself to be beaten, tortured and crucified on a cross whereupon God could pour out all of his vengeful, holy wrath upon this perfect sacrificial Lamb - His earthly Son. After receiving all of God's punishment that had been ear-marked for us, Jesus Christ died an earthly death. And then He did what no other earthly man could have done. He rose from the dead three days later. "

"In my own words, and another quote from Romans, the gospel is the fact that while man's free will was so fallen that he was incapable of seeking after God and pleasing Him that God sent His only Son to take on the sins of the elect and receive their judgement, which is death, so that "God would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Rom. 3:26 "

"The salvation and reconciliation that God provided for mankind through his Son can only be received as a gift, by believing in his Son Jesus, not just intellectually accenting, but by acknowledging that Jesus died for my sins personally, and committing to a life of him as my Lord.Conversion then, is our “stake-in-the ground” if you will, but our journey does not end here. The Bible is clear that upon our conversion we have moved from the kingdom of this world, to the kingdom of heaven."

"Perhaps the “greatest” part of the good news is what being a kingdom citizen (or Christian) means for us! Not only are we saved from eternity apart from God, we are reconciled to God and to relationship with Him. We have the privilege of calling the infinite God of the universe “father,” or perhaps even more literally translated “daddy.” No other religion in the world has anything even remotely resembling the intimacy with which Christians have with their God. Benefits are manifold, and cannot all be expounded upon here, but include: comforting, being made complete (or whole), receiving mercy, seeing God, healing, purpose, empowerment to bear the fruit required of us, and a promise from God that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6)!"

Many place their hope in the things of this world. Government (9-11 showed to us how quickly that can be shaken) Money (Stocks dropped 700 points this week, is that a safe place to rest our security?) Friends/Family (our life is but a mist, we are here today and gone tomorrow. We don't know when we will die let alone those we depend on. Again there isn't much security in people). Leaders, (if we are honest we understand that all of us are capable of doing terrible things. Our actions may not prove it today, but our thoughts do), ourselves (do you really believe you are capable to sustain your own life?) What then can we trust in?

In Psalm 2 we read

Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed...He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in his fury, saying, 'But as for Me, I have installed My king upon Zion, My holy Mountain'...How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

We learn that God is not worried about the chaos we fear. He is not worried about those who doubt or hate him. In fact he laughs. Why? He knows what the outcome is. He has established His plan and nothing will interfere. We can have confidence that when our hope is in the Salvation of Jesus, God will finish what he has started. After all, it was God the Father who loved us enough to send His Son Jesus. When we accept the gift of the gospel we no longer need to fear our immediate future, because we belong to the one who knows the future. We can cling to this security in uncertain times. Wall Street may fail, our government may fail, but our loving, sovereign God does not fail. We can trust in his promise to complete the work of salvation that he began in us with the cross of Jesus Christ.

"he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" Philippians 1:6

Removing the Obstacles to Lasting Joy

What is the gospel?

Christians claim that the message of the gospel is the most important message in history. Some of you reading this will agree with that statement. I certainly do. Yet I wonder do we have a clear understanding of the gospel? If this is the most essential message in history it is of utmost importance that we understand this message. I am afraid that most of us understand the basics but are not truly instructed in it's message. With that thought in mind I ask you to explore the depth of the gospel with me. Let's begin with a question. Please help me by taking a moment to answer no matter what your opinion is. What is the gospel?