I like to listen to Christmas songs, get out to Christmas markets, and watch my share of Christmas movies. But I think I know one reason Christmas makes so many people miserable. Consider the Christmas message of many of the most popular Christmas songs. What you’ll see is that what started off as a holiday to celebrate a religion became a holiday celebrated as a religion. Let me explain.
It’s an unusual week for me when I write letters to our mayor, city councillor and member of parliament. But last week was one of those weeks. I wanted to share with them a recent study on the economic impact of churches on their communities. It’s an important issue because more and more secular people are of the mind that it’s a drain on the economy for the government to provide tax exemptions to religious institutions. The research shows that the opposite is, in fact, true. Even if you never intend to attend a church, you benefit from the economic impact that the church has in your city. Let me explain.
If you’re a parent, you’ll likely spend a good portion of your time on this earth thinking about, caring for, and spending money on your children. They are inevitably the single biggest investment you’ll make in life. How much time have you given to thinking about what you’re actually trying to do for your children? Is your end goal that they’d like you? That they become financially successful? That they be independent? That they be kind, strong, or environmentally conscious? That they be religious? The work of parenting can be so all-consuming that we lose sight of what we’re aiming for. The crises of parenting can be so overwhelming that we forget what we’re trying to accomplish. Opportunities are lost as a result. And later we can regret them. Let me share what I feel is an inadequate end goal that we often settle for and two alternatives I believe God calls us to.
The Bible’s teaching on marriage can be misunderstood when we bring our cultural baggage to the Bible’s commands. The gospel can transform our vision for marriage when we see how Jesus’ humility, sacrifice, and love provide the foundation for a Christ-centred relationship.
Christians can sometimes read Jesus’ teachings like a self-help book. But when we reduce Jesus’ teachings to principles and rules, we empty them of their power. The heart of Jesus’ message was God’s grace given to transform us. We see this in the way Jesus responded when Peter came to Him with a question about a difficult relationship.
Many Christians bring a non-Christian mindset to how they live the Christian life. When they hear a sermon, they only hear what they have to do. When they open the Bible, they only see God’s commands. And, ironically, Christianity can become a non-Christian religion in the process. There’s a simple pattern that the Scriptures give for correcting this: start with DONE before you move to DO.
Culturally, it’s become more and more uncomfortable for people who follow Jesus. Christianity is called exclusive. Christians are called intolerant. Christian ethics are considered outdated. And, so, before we open our mouths to share the good news about Jesus many people have already made up their minds. Some Christians respond by retreating. We take a defensive posture toward society and assume that we should just focus on protecting ourselves and consoling one another. When we do, our faith becomes a shell of what the New Testament describes. Remember that Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). The true church is on the offensive, seeking to rescue those held in darkness, and nothing can prevail against it.
Most Christians leave the gospel at the door of the Christian life. They see the good news about Jesus as the key to getting started in their faith but then struggle to see how the gospel is also the engine that drives the life we were created to live. As a result, they end up running on fumes and living the Christian life like a non-Christian.
It’s hard for some people to believe in heaven because they can’t touch it or see it. It can feel too far to grasp onto and too distant to find assurance in. Other people hope in heaven but go through life uncertain that they’ll ever get there. The doubts are too strong and the promises too abstract. Wouldn’t it be great if God gave us a down payment on heaven, here and now? Wouldn’t it help if heaven came with a guarantee for those who had truly put their faith in Jesus? Amazing at it sounds, the Bible says that, in the Holy Spirit, God has done exactly that.
Christians have been taught some strange things about the Holy Spirit over the years. There were some who taught you had to “tarry” to receive the power of the Holy Spirit, based on the King James rendering of Luke 24:49. By tarry, they meant that people have to wait, often in hours-long prayer meetings, for a sign of the Holy Spirit. Many people found the wait exhausting and never experienced what they were told to wait for. There are others who have so tied speaking in tongues with the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit can take a backseat to speaking in tongues and God’s power is missing in people’s lives as a result. Others have been so freaked out by horror stories of “tarrying” and fiascos related to tongues that they want nothing to do with the Holy Spirit altogether. None of this is helpful. Over the last several weeks we’ve been looking at who the Holy Spirit is, why He’s just what we need, and what He seeks to do in people’s lives. Today, let’s consider three basic ways Scripture gives to connect to His power in our lives.
