Can you believe it’s 2018? Last year just seemed to fly by and now we’re already into a new one. But with the start of every new year comes the opportunity to start fresh, and that means a chance to take a fresh new look at the grace of God.

At the same time we take that fresh new look at God’s grace, it’s also an opportunity to review our past too. Not to dwell in it and fixate on our past failures, but to see it in the light of who we are now. It’s then that we can most clearly see the results of God’s grace in our life.

That’s exactly what the Apostle Paul did. On several occasions in his letters, he wrote about his past in order to contrast it with the person he’d become as a result of God’s grace. Take, for example, what he wrote to the Philippians. “If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless (Philippians 3:4-6).”

The part about persecuting the church is critical. Back in his religious Pharisee days, when he was still blind to the truth of who Jesus was, Paul thought he was doing exactly what God wanted him to do – stamp out the followers of Christ and their false new religion. Perhaps something similar is in your past too. I know it’s in mine. I can remember looking at those who didn’t think like me or act like me with a certain level of disdain, like I was in someway morally superior. What a joke! But that’s what a religious, legalistic mindset can produce. It’s the same mindset that led Paul to persecute the church, and it’s definitely not the mindset of grace.

Paul knew he lacked grace in his earlier years. He said as much to his protege Timothy when he told him, “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man (1 Timothy 1:13).” He even referred to himself as the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).

That might sound funny coming from Paul, the man who contributed so much to the development of the early church and to the New Testament. But that was the new Paul, the man who had been radically changed by the grace of God. That wasn’t the man he was describing to Timothy; he was describing the old, legalistic, Pharisaical Paul.

But Paul was wanting Timothy and the Philippians to see what the grace of God does to a person who has been completely captured by the love of our Father. As he continued to the Philippians, he exclaimed, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him (Philippians 3:7-9).”

Talk about a total turnaround from his earlier description of himself. He went from being proud of his Jewish heritage and his standing in his community to considering all that garbage compared to knowing and being in Christ. That’s what grace did for him. He recognized that his past was worthless in light of all he had in Jesus.

In addition to that, he also recognized that he was not the same man he used to be either. He went from admitting he was a blasphemer of God to being completely sold out on following Jesus. He changed from being a violent persecutor of the church to having persecution heaped upon himself as he willingly sacrificed his well-being on behalf of the church. And he gave full credit to Jesus for this 180 degree change in his life. As he wrote to Timothy, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service…The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 1:12, 14).”

The change that occurred in Paul’s life is the same change that awaits anyone who has been touched and transformed by the grace of God. It turns us into a new person, the new creation that Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

So why not take a little time this new year to examine your past and see how God’s grace has been transforming you. Perhaps like Paul, you’d be able to say that you were once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent person (or whatever you were in your past). And also like Paul, perhaps that examination of your past will help you to see how God has been remolding and reshaping you to be a person of love and grace, just like Jesus Christ. That would be something very much worthy of celebrating this new year.

As we get nearer to Christmas, it’s time to wrap this whole thing up about the gift that God gave the world (please forgive the pun). We’ve examined how God gave us the gift of Jesus to save us from our self-destructive path of sin and death. Then we looked into how God wanted to restore mankind to his original purpose of having us share in the bond of fellowship and love that the Triune God has shared for eternity. And then we saw how we can live with peace and joy because of this precious gift of Jesus.

So now we bring it all together. What does this gift tell us about God? What does it reveal about the longing of His heart? And how does this impact the way He interacts with us?

To put it in its most straightforward terms, the gift of Jesus comes from a heart of love. All over Scripture, we see again and again that God loves us. It’s not because we’ve done anything to earn or deserve that love. It’s simply because, as John plainly states, God is love (1 John 4:8, 16).

It’s because He is love that He created us in the first place. It’s because He is love that He wanted us to share in His love and fellowship. It’s because He is love that He desired to save us from what was destroying us. It’s because He is love that Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit willingly took it upon themselves to affect our salvation. And it’s because He is love that He longs to make us new and bring us together into His family.

Let’s compare this God of love to the God that we often hear about in certain circles. If you listen to that version of God, He is typically angry at us because of all the stupid, sinful things we do. He is so angry that if we don’t stop sinning, or, at the very least, ask for forgiveness for every sin we commit, we might suffer His wrath in terrible ways. He might spit us out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16), throw us into the fire like a dead, broken branch (John 15:6), or reject us if we don’t stand firm to the end (Matthew 10:22). Any way you look at it, we would be in danger of losing our salvation or never being saved in the first place.

But can this be true? Would the God who went through all the trouble He went through to save us really get so angry at us for our stumbles that He’d be willing to throw us away? Would the One who suffered, bled, and died to restore and reconcile us really end up saying that we weren’t worth it after all? I don’t think so. God knew we would still have our struggles with sin from time to time, so why would he bother giving us the gift of Jesus if He knew He would end up rejecting us anyway? It just doesn’t make sense.

What does make sense is that His love for us is so wide and long and high and deep (Ephesians 3:18) that He would never give up. Just like how Jesus, the Good Shepherd, will not rest until he has found the lost sheep, so God will keep pursuing us with His love because His greatest desire is to save us and to bring us into His circle of love, joy, and peace. That’s why He gave us the gift, and that’s how He interacts with us. Everything He does is rooted in His love for us. And because of that, I am confident that nothing, not even ourselves, can ever separate us from His love (Romans 8:39).

So take heart this Christmas season. Look at that Nativity set you have in your front yard, or in your living room, or at your church, and recognize that when the angels announced “peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14) at the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago that that announcement was for you and for me. In fact, it was for the whole world. So rest in God’s mercy, grace, and unending love. That baby in that Nativity scene represents all of that and more. Know for certain that He loves you and He always will. You are precious to Him. That’s why He gave you the gift of Jesus and that’s why He went through all the trouble He did. You’re worth it!

So on behalf of the staff here at Essential Grace (that’s me and my wonderful wife, who has to listen to me read all these to her before I post them), we wish you a Merry Christmas. And don’t forget to thank God for His incredible gift of love and grace.

I remember when I was a kid being really excited during this time of the year. I would sit there in our living room admiring all the lights and decorations on our Christmas tree, enjoying some Christmas music and cookies, and wondering what was in those wrapped gifts with my name on them. I will justify that self-centeredness by saying that that’s part of the magic of Christmas for a kid.

I’d like to think that that was part of the magic as well for the shepherds and Mary and Joseph when it came to the birth of Jesus. “What exactly is in this gift of Jesus,” I imagine them wondering, “that God has given us and the angels have announced?” That’s my more polite way of saying, what’s in it for us?

We’ve explored the reason why God gave the world the gift of Jesus and what was in it for Him to give us that gift. Now I want to see what was in it for us, for the whole world, for all of humanity.

The obvious answer is our salvation, but I want to go beyond that. I want to talk about the impact the gift of Jesus can have on us right now in this life. Yes, salvation is in it for us right now if we accept the gift by faith and are in Christ, but there are other ways this gift can impact us, ways that it can bring us something that so many people lack and desperately want. I’m talking about peace and joy.

Many Christians struggle with experiencing peace and joy in their lives. They see all the hurt and suffering going on around them and they wonder how there can be fulfillment and contentment in the face of this rotten, broken world. Perhaps they have lived through their own hurts and sufferings, such as abuse, being raised in a broken home, failed marriages, lost friendships, lost jobs, extreme financial hardships, disease and illnesses, or watching those close to them live and die through excruciating pain. In the midst of it all, is it any wonder we struggle with having peace and joy?

Believe it or not, we can have it despite our circumstances. Remember, Jesus said that he came that we may have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). Is what I’ve described in the paragraph above the life that Jesus came to give? Is that what’s in it for us?

Absolutely not! I am not a therapist and I don’t play one on TV (and I haven’t stayed in a Holiday Inn Express lately), but I do have some observations that I would like to share that might help us. So for what it’s worth, here are my two cents worth (which I suppose makes it worth two cents).

We Christians can learn a thing or two from the Apostle Paul. When life is beating you up and getting you down and you’re full of anxiety rather than peace and joy, study his life. Talk about someone who was beaten up by life – literally! Take a look at all that he went through during his 30+ year ministry.

He worked extremely hard.

He had been in prison multiple times.

He had been severely flogged.

He had been exposed to death again and again.

He had received 39 lashes from the Jews five different times.

He was beaten with rods three times.

He was pelted with stones once.

He was shipwrecked three times.

He spent a night and a day in the open sea.

He was constantly on the move, apparently not able to stay in one place too long. (In other words, he was pretty much homeless.)

He had been in danger from rivers.

He had been in danger from bandits.

His fellow Jews were out to get him.

He faced danger from Gentiles.

He faced danger in the city, out in the country, and at sea.

He faced danger from false believers.

He labored and toiled and often went without sleep.

He knew times of hunger and thirst.

He often went without food.

He had been cold and naked.

And he daily faced the pressure of concern for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)

I dare say that the vast majority of Christians today, especially those of us living in America, have not experienced anything quite like this. If there was anyone who had the right to let life get him down (besides Jesus), I think Paul certainly would have qualified.

And yet he’s the one who said, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances (Philippians 4:11).” What? He was content? Content with everything he went through? How? He continued, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want (Philippians 4:12).”

Does that describe us? I’d say no, not most of the time at least. We get all anxious and worried and stressed out when we don’t get the promotion or raise we think we deserve at work or when our children are misbehaving at home or when there is trouble brewing at church. We lose our peace and joy at the drop of a hat, and Paul was content in any and every situation? I don’t know about you, but that grabs my attention. I want some of that. (And as a side note, he wrote those words while he was imprisoned.)

So what was his secret? How was he able to be content in the midst of everything he went through? His very next statement in Philippians says it all. “I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).” “Oh, so that’s it,” you might be thinking to yourself. “He received some miraculous power from God. Well, why doesn’t God do that in my life?” It’s easy to read what Paul is saying that way, but I don’t think that’s what he meant at all. In fact, I don’t think Paul was focused on his life at all. I think he was focused on Christ’s life in him, and that’s where the strength came from.

Read the following from Paul and you’ll see what I mean: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).” Wow! Now that’s some powerful words, words that clearly express that Paul’s focus was on Christ, not on himself. And that was his secret to being content in any and every situation.

I am convinced that the things we focus on are the things that will ultimately form us, shape us, control us to a large extent. If we focus on all the negative stuff that’s happening all around us or to us, we will not have much peace, joy, and contentment. Even if life is treating us reasonably well, it’s often not enough and we still struggle with being content. Why? Because we have a tendency to focus on the flesh, and the more we focus on the flesh and its desires, the more it craves. It can never be satisfied and you will never find peace and contentment that way. That’s why some wealthy people are often never satisfied; their flesh covets more and they never have enough. It’s the thing that drove them to become wealthy in the first place. So they divert all their focus and energy on obtaining more to satisfy that elusive peace they so deeply desire in the innermost parts of their being.

But don’t be fooled; wealthy folks are not the only ones who can get caught up in the rat race of trying to find fulfillment in what the world offers. That can happen to us all. And that’s why we need to pay attention to how Paul lived. If you desire to live a life of peace, joy, contentment, and fulfillment, then listen to what Paul has to say to us and heed his advice. He says…

“Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1).”

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:2).”

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).”

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).”

Notice how the emphasis is not on the here and now, not on present circumstances, and not on fleshly desires, but on the hope of future glory that awaits us. That was Paul’s secret. That’s how he could have peace and joy in situations that would tear most of us apart. He looked beyond his present circumstances and fixed his eyes on Jesus and his love for him. That’s what was in it for him and that’s what can be in it for you and me. How was he able to do that? That’s what we will take a look at next week as we go deeper into the heart of God and what Christmas is all about.

Last week, we took a look at the reason why God gave the gift of Jesus to a world that wasn’t particularly interested. His reason, quite simply, was to save the world through Jesus from the devastating effects of sin and death. As Jesus put it in what are arguably the most famous words he ever uttered, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17).”

With that well established, I’d like to now examine what was in it for God. It’s wonderful that He wanted to save the world, but was there anything in it for Him?

Perhaps that’s a bit of a loaded question because it makes it sound like He may have done it for selfish reasons. But that is not at all the case. Still, it’s not like He didn’t have His reasons for doing it.

Have you ever had something you really liked and you lost it? Do you remember that feeling of frustration as you looked everywhere for it and couldn’t find it? Do you recall how you racked your brain as you tried to remember where you placed it or where you last had it, but it was all in vain?

You may remember that I wrote a few weeks ago about some special baseball cards I had as a kid and that I lost them and have no idea what ever happened to them. That was one of the special things I lost. Perhaps for you it was something very sentimental, such as a piece of jewelry from your grandmother, or a special gift from a close friend. Whatever it may be, you know that it’s not fun losing that item that meant so much to you.

Now imagine that what you’ve lost is someone you love. Perhaps you don’t have to imagine; perhaps you know exactly what I am talking about. It hurts deep in our hearts when we lose someone we love dearly. Whether it’s by death or distance, there’s no healing that pain overnight.

If you can relate to what I’m describing, then you are getting close to the heart of what was in it for God to give the gift of Jesus to the world. To understand what was in it for Him, we must go back in the past, back before the world even existed. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit shared an intimate fellowship with each other. In that fellowship they experienced perfect love and joy together. At some point, God then decided to create humanity. It wasn’t just a random decision; He had a purpose in mind. He wanted to share that fellowship of love and joy with us. He wanted us to experience the same sense of joy and fulfillment that He, the triune God, had experienced throughout eternity. That’s what was at the heart of God’s reason for creating man.

But then came the moment that Adam and Eve fell into sin. With sin came death and destruction, and the shared life of love and joy God desired for us was lost.

Losing mankind surely broke God’s heart, but He was not about to give up without a fight. From the time of the Fall on, the biblical narrative becomes a rescue story. How could God bring about restoration so that His purpose for mankind would still be fulfilled? How could he destroy sin and its disastrous effects without also destroying the ones He desired to share His love with?

That’s where the gift of Jesus comes into focus. To save the world and His purpose for mankind, God needed to destroy the very thing that threatened to destroy the object of His love. He needed to destroy sin.

To better understand this, I’m going to borrow an illustration from another Christian teacher I heard this from. Sin is to us spiritually like cancer cells are to the body. Cancer cells are living cells but they are diseased. If not treated, they will eventually kill the host. The way cancer cells are typically treated is through chemotherapy, which, as I understand it, is like putting a controlled poison in your body so as to destroy the cancer cells. Or to use a similar illustration, sin is to us what a computer virus is to a software program. If the virus isn’t destroyed, it will wipe out the program and it will not function as it was designed to. That’s the way sin is to mankind.

God’s plan was to send Jesus into the world as the chemotherapy, or the anti-virus program. By becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), Jesus, by his death on the cross, destroyed sin. When he died, the power of sin died with him. In this way, he took away the sin of the world (John 1:29)  and set us free of its power and free to live in the light and love of our Father. And by that the purpose of God for us was restored and the fellowship He wanted us to share in has again been made possible. That’s what God wanted all along, That’s what was in it for Him to give the world the gift of Jesus.

Once more we see that the heart of God is all about restoring what was lost, just as Jesus revealed in his parables about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son in Luke 15. He also demonstrated that heart in how he pursued sinners throughout his earthly ministry, just as he continues to do through the Holy Spirit to this day.

So what was in it for God was regaining what was temporarily lost – opening the way for humanity to be joined in a loving and fulfilling fellowship filled with joy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all this accomplished by the gift of Jesus Christ. Next we will examine what was in it for us and why the gift of Jesus is by far the greatest gift ever given.

Ah, Christmas time! What a wonderful time of the year. Well, at least it always has been for me. I love this time of the year. It means so much more than just getting gifts. It also means light, joy, hope, family, and love. And of course, all that is encapsulated in the greatest gift of all – Jesus Christ!

When we follow the gospel story, it becomes clear that God gave the gift of Jesus to a broken, hurting world. It was a world that was largely in rebellion against Him, or just flat out refused to even acknowledge Him at all. The course of mankind up to that point had been a course of stubbornness, willfulness, selfishness, and wickedness. As a result, the world was plunged into a ceaseless cycle of violence and corruption that led to disease, decay, and death.

So why would God give the gift of Jesus to a world that didn’t want him? What was in it for Him? What was in it for us? And what does it tell us about God and His gift?

The reason God would give the gift of Jesus to a world that didn’t want him is because the world needed him. Unlike what some may think, God does love us and cares about what’s going on down here. He doesn’t love us only when we are good. If that were so, none of us would stand a chance. Instead, He loves the world despite all the wickedness and violence. Does God like the wickedness and violence? Of course not. Does He just turn a blind eye to it? Not a chance. But what He does do is work towards setting things right, and that’s where His love (and His gift) enters the mess we’ve made.

The Christmas story is perfect proof of what I’m talking about. On the night of Jesus’ birth, shepherds were in the fields tending their flocks of sheep. I’ve never watched over sheep, but I can only imagine that this is not the most exciting or glamorous work. I’m sure it would require patience, vigilance, and dedication and you might get pretty filthy and smelly. But yet it was to this group of men that God decided to announce the coming of His gift to the world.

“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people (Luke 2:9-10).’” Please note that at the appearance of a heavenly creature, the first reaction of the shepherds is one of fear. Why? Two thoughts I offer on this: 1) It’s natural for most people to experience fear when they encounter something completely unexpected, and 2) fear is a natural response to an appearance of God and/or His angels because in our sin and guilt we automatically presume that God is going to strike us with His wrath.

How wrong we are. Notice what the angel said. He’s bringing good news. It’s such good news that it will cause joy. And not just joy for the shepherds; it will cause joy for “all the people.” And it’s not just a little joy; it’s “great joy!”

What was this good news that would cause great joy for everyone? The angel continued, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord (Luke 2:11).” The good news was Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord. He had entered this messy world in the form of a baby. As John would later famously say, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14).”

How was the birth of this baby good news? First of all, this was not just another baby. This was the incarnation – God in the flesh. Jesus is the Son of God, so his presence among us meant that God was living in the midst of His creatures, the very creatures that didn’t want Him. And why did He do it? As the angel declared, Jesus is our Savior. That’s why he did it. He didn’t come to destroy His wicked world. He didn’t come to shower fire and brimstone on us all. He came to save us! He came to restore. He came to draw us to himself.

We needed to be saved from the destructive path of sin and death that we were on and Jesus came to do the job. Compare and contrast what Jesus came to do with the image that far too many of us hold of an angry God that is ready to smite everyone because He can’t stand the stupid and evil things we do. It’s a completely different picture of God, isn’t it? It’s God not only setting us right but also correcting our understanding of Him. It’s hard to approach someone whom you think is constantly going to lash out at you because of your failures but it’s easy to approach someone whom you know loves you and cares for you and desires nothing but the best for you. So God wanted us to see that He was for us, not against us; that he love us, not despises us. Once we realize this, and I mean deeply realize it, that’s when His love starts changing more than our perception of Him. It also starts changing our perception of how we live, how we love, and how we treat one another. That’s the transformation that lifts us out of sin and darkness and draws us into His wonderful light where we enjoy His peace, goodness, and joy.

So I’ve answered why God would give us the gift of Jesus, but there’s more to say on this topic. Next week we’ll start tackling what was in it for God to do it. Until then, may you always walk in Jesus’ light and be at peace and joy.

Read through the Gospels and you’ll be amazed at how often Jesus was healing people or even bringing people back from the dead. We’ve discussed several of those instances over the course of the last couple months. What each one demonstrates is how Jesus is full of grace and truth. They demonstrate his grace because no one he healed did anything to deserve or earn it; it was simply a gift from a loving Savior. And what is the truth that his acts of grace revealed? That God longs to bring restoration where there is brokenness, life where there is death.

Nowhere was this truth better demonstrated than at Jesus’ resurrection. It was one thing for Jesus to raise people from the dead. It was quite another for Jesus himself to be raised from the dead. Despite the fact that he warned his disciples several times that he was going to be arrested, killed, and raised back to life three days later, it just never seemed to sink in with them. They were still in shock and awe when it all happened. The question for them, and for us as well, was did it have to happen.

To answer that question, we need to go all the way back to the beginning, back to the Garden of Eden. There we find Adam and Eve enjoying the beauty of all that God had made for them and enjoying the freedom they had in their relationship with each other and with Him. The only limit to that freedom was the sole command God had stipulated – “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die (Genesis 2:17).”

Many theologians have interpreted this statement to mean that breaking this commandment would lead to their spiritual death. In other words, the spiritual life that God had breathed into them would be gone if they disobeyed and all their descendants would be born spiritually dead. In that condition, there would be no hope for anyone to enter eternity apart from somehow being made spiritually alive.

Others argue that God was simply warning them of pending physical death if they ate the fruit of that tree. According to this argument, Adam and Eve were created to live forever in unbroken fellowship with God. But eating the forbidden fruit spelled their doom as they and their descendants would come to know the pain of disease, decay, death, separation, and loss.  

Still others argue that both of the above views are true, that Adam and Eve’s disobedience led to immediate spiritual death and eventual physical death.

As for me, I don’t think it matters much which is true. I lean toward thinking that both may be, at least to some extent. Either way, it seems apparent that sin brought death, and death is the enemy of humanity. The absence of life was the problem that needed a remedy because God created us to have life.

And that’s where Jesus stepped in. He was the remedy to our problem, and the instrument by which the remedy was applied was the cross. It was there that sin and Satan met its match. It was Satan, through his tempting of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, who introduced sin into the world, and, as we’ve already established, it was sin that brought death into the world. As Paul declared, “,,,sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned (Romans 5:12).”

But Jesus brought victory over Satan and sin. On the cross, Jesus became sin and, therefore, through his death, the power of sin died with him so that we would become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). It’s as John said of Jesus, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1 John 3:8).” By destroying sin on the cross, Jesus destroyed the work of Satan.

But that’s not all Jesus accomplished. With the defeat of Satan and sin came also victory over death. What Jesus did was similar to a doctor treating a symptom by curing the disease. In this case, the symptom was death and the disease was sin. With the cure for sin being made available in Christ, we have now been set free from the ill effects of sin – death.

Now how can I say that since we all still face death? Well, as the writer of Hebrews stated, Jesus shared in our humanity “so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15).”

Did you catch that? What power did death hold over us? It kept us enslaved because of our fear of it. We feared that death would be the end of our story. We feared that we would never again see our loved ones and friends. We feared that we would incur the wrath of God because of our sins. We feared that His fierce anger would cause Him to send us to an eternal torment and separation from Him. We feared we would never taste life again.

But praise God, Christ brought victory over sin and death. What Adam set in motion, Jesus has reversed. “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).” So Jesus’ resurrection brings hope to us all and we no longer need to fear death. Why? Because “perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18),” and that perfect love brings the hope and promise of eternal life for those in Christ.  So the fear of death has been driven away, and death can no longer hold us in its chains of slavery. Therefore, I say with Paul:

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

‘Where, O death, is your victory?

   Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).”

So I now return to the question I raised at the start – Did Jesus’ death and resurrection have to happen? The answer is an unequivocal, “yes.” His death destroyed the work of Satan and the power of sin. His resurrection brings the hope of eternal life for all mankind by breaking the chains of slavery that the fear of death held us in. I am convinced that all the other healings that Jesus performed in his earthly ministry, including the ones I touched on in my previous blogs in this series, were but a precursor to the biggest healing of them all – healing us from the power of sin and death. That is ultimately why he came to earth. He wanted to show the world by his self-sacrificial love that the grace of our heavenly Father would restore us from more than disease, doubt, confusion, blindness, and grief. It would also restore the very thing that we most need – life! That life is found in Christ and no one else.

So celebrate that life if you have it today. And if you don’t, put your faith in him and enjoy that life right now. He’s ready to give it to you. How do I know? Because God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are full of grace and truth.

Last week we took a look at how Jesus showed how he was full of grace by healing a man with leprosy and a woman who had struggled with bleeding for 12 years. Anytime we read about Jesus healing people, it tends to fill us with a great sense of hope and encouragement. In the midst of our own struggles with health issues, or the health issues of those we know and love, we are reminded of those stories of Jesus’ healings and find ourselves praying for the same measure of grace.

Sometimes the healing comes our way and we are overjoyed and praise God. It’s easy to praise God in those moments, just as it was for man who was healed of leprosy or for the woman whose bleeding stopped when she touched Jesus’ cloak. However, what do we do when the healing doesn’t come? What happens when the health issue grows worse and leads to the outcome we’ve been praying against? What then?

It’s inevitable for us all. Death will knock on our door some time. How do we handle it when it’s here? Who will be there to bring us comfort in the moment of our grief?

If you’ve lost a loved one, you know the pain that comes with that loss. My wife has lost both her parents. I lost my father earlier this year. We’ve both experienced the grief that naturally followed those losses. The grief for some can be almost too much to bear and leave them wondering if God is there or if He cares.

Believe it or not, God is there in those moments. He does care. In fact, He cares more than you can imagine. Allow Jesus to show you how much God cares.

Jesus had some friends in the village of Bethany who welcomed him whenever he was in town. They were two sisters named Mary and Martha and their brother named Lazarus. Shortly after leaving Jerusalem following the Festival of Dedication, Jesus got word from the sisters that Lazarus was sick. Their hope, of course, was that Jesus would come at once and heal Lazarus.

Much to their dismay, Jesus stayed where he was for two more days before deciding to make the journey to Bethany. Meanwhile, Lazarus had already passed away and had been in the tomb for four days by the time Jesus and his disciples arrived. Naturally, Mary and Martha were both in a state of profound grief. They knew that Jesus could have cured him. Where was he? Didn’t he care?

Martha was the first to run into Jesus. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died (John 11:21).” Can you hear the anguish in her voice? Had a similar thought crossed your mind when you lost the one you loved?

Still, even in her grief, Martha revealed the faith she had in Jesus. “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask (John 11:22).” I don’t know if Martha completely understood what it was she was saying, but there was certainly a sense of hope in her statement. She still trusted Jesus and believed that a miracle was not impossible.

With tender reassurance, Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again (John 11:23).” Can you imagine hearing those words from Jesus’ mouth? Honestly, if you had been Martha, what would you have thought? Would you have understood what Jesus was saying?

Martha certainly had some understanding. She answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day (John 11:24).” That would seem to be what Martha was hoping for when she said that she knew that God would give Jesus whatever he asked for. Her hope was in seeing her brother again someday, a day that was far off into a distant future. Little did she know what was about to transpire.

Shortly after their conversation, Martha left and told her sister Mary that Jesus had arrived. A very distraught Mary ran to Jesus, fell at his feet weeping and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died (John 11:32).” She knew the type of miraculous power Jesus had. She was confident that Jesus could have saved Lazarus if only he had come immediately.

Seeing the grief in Mary’s tearful eyes, Jesus was moved with compassion and pity and began to weep also. The crowd of onlookers were impressed by Jesus’ demonstration of love for Lazarus, but some wondered, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying (John 11:37)?”

I get the sense from the words and reactions of Martha, Mary, and those in the crowd they they thought the moment at which Jesus could have miraculously cured Lazarus had come and gone. Nowhere does there seem to be a hint of anticipation of a miracle yet to occur. How could grace overcome a hopeless and helpless situation like this? Where was relief for their profound grief to come from now?

But we haven’t reached the end of the story yet. Grace is far from being exhausted. So moved was Jesus that he went to the tomb and demanded that the stone be rolled away, despite the protests that the body was surely in a state of decomposition at this point and that there would be a bad odor.

With the stone rolled away, Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out (John 11:41-43)!” Can you imagine the stunned faces when Lazarus suddenly walked out of the tomb, still wrapped in his burial cloths? Where was the grave’s victory at that point? Where was the sting of death? Death and the grave had met the one full of grace and truth and completely and utterly lost.

In a matter of seconds, Mary and Martha’s grief was turned into inexpressible joy! Jesus, full of grace, had once again revealed the truth that God will ultimately restore us, even from the darkest moments that life has to offer. Death is not the end. The life and love of Christ will win over all.

So if you have experienced the same kind of grief that Martha and Mary experienced, or if you find yourself going through it now, please take hope in the one who brings comfort like no other. As Jesus said to Martha, so he says to you and me too – “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die (John 11:25-26).” Put your faith in the hope that the grace and truth of Jesus brings. Restoration of life where there seems to be no hope may come now or it may not. The one you love may be healed or he may not. If healing does not come, you will grieve. It’s only natural that you will do so. But be assured of this – Jesus is life, and all who believe in him will have life restored someday. And when that day comes, your grief will be swallowed up by the comfort that the restoration of life brings. Put your hope in this.

There are a lot of things in life that can cause us heartache and pain. Few can compare with the struggle of dealing with declining health. If we live long enough, we’re bound to experience it, either our own health struggles or those of the people we love and care for. Either way, it’s not pleasant and not something anyone looks forward to.

According to the writers of the four Gospels, Jesus encountered plenty of people who were struggling with health issues of their own. We’ve already looked at a couple of them in previous blog posts, like the man who was healed of paralysis and the man who was healed of blindness. But those two are just the beginning. There were many others who sought out Jesus to be healed of the diseases they were battling with.

We find one such example in Mark’s gospel. In the story, Jesus is traveling throughout Galilee preaching and driving demons out of people. Meanwhile, a man with leprosy approached Jesus, fell on his knees, and cried out, “If You are willing, You can make me clean (Mark 1:40).”

Think of the faith this man had. According to the law, people with leprosy were supposed to be isolated from others because they were unclean (Leviticus 13:46). They weren’t even supposed to come close to people. Though he surely knew he was violating the law, which could have gotten him into all sorts of trouble, he boldly went up to Jesus trusting that he would cure him. Would he?

We’ve already seen multiple examples of how Jesus was full of grace. This occasion would be no different. Moved with compassion for the suffering man, Jesus touched him with his hand and said, “I am willing; be cleansed (Mark 1:41).”

Can you imagine how this encounter with Jesus must have made this man feel? Putting myself in his sandals, I can only imagine how uplifting it would have been just to have been touched by him and to hear him say those words. But it got even better than that. As Mark continues, we discover that the man was indeed healed. Not gradually. Not a little bit at a time. Immediately (Mark 1:42)!

While this miraculous healing clearly put vitality back in this man’s body, it really did much more than that. Think of what it would have been like to live a life being ostracized from everyone you knew and loved because of the disease you had. Think of the crushing loneliness you would feel if you could never be with them, talk with them, eat with them, live everyday life with them. Think of how desperate you would feel living apart from the rest of society, shunned because of a possible deadly disease and the law that requires it. Imagine trying to cope with the fear that you could die alone, or at least in the company of others struggling in the same miserable conditions living in a leper colony.

When viewed from this vantage point, you can see why this man risked it all to fall at the feet of Jesus. The desperate circumstances of his life, combined with his faith in Jesus, drove him to it. And the grace of Jesus did more than just heal his body; he restored the fullness of life to this man. If that’s not grace, I don’t know what is.

Just four chapters later, Mark tells another story very similar to this one. In this story, there is a woman who has been suffering from her own disease; she had been subject to bleeding for twelve years! She had spent all her money on doctors but they were unable to help her. In fact, she was getting worse. Out of a similar desperation that the leprous man experienced, this woman sought out the one person she was convinced could heal her – Jesus! Her faith was such that she believed she would be healed if only she could touch his clothes. Finding him in the middle of a large crowd, she was determined to make her way to him. Coming up from behind him, she managed to touch his cloak, and immediately she was healed and her suffering was gone (Mark 5:24-29).

Like the man with leprosy, this poor woman would have been something like a pariah in society. She would have been declared unclean (Leviticus 15:25-27) and not allowed to enter the temple area for religious ceremonies. And anyone she would have touched would been declared unclean too. So to fight her way through the crowd that was pressing around Jesus was a complete no-no. Such was her desperation and desire to be healed.

Although he did not see who it was who touched him, Jesus stopped and demanded to know who it was. He had felt the power of healing flow out of him. Was the woman in trouble? Remember, she was unclean and wasn’t supposed to touch him or anyone else. Was she about to be reprimanded? Or worse?

Trembling with fear, she fell at Jesus’ feet and admitted what she had done. But once again, Jesus exercised grace. Instead of chastising her for touching him with her uncleanness, he instead said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering (Mark 5:34).”

Such tender words from Jesus is enough to melt one’s heart. Her world was completely opened back up to her because of the graciousness of the one who loved her perhaps more than she could have possibly known at that moment. Though we know nothing else about her, it’s not hard to imagine that she was forever changed by this sole encounter with the Son of God. If nothing else, her health was restored to her and she resumed a normal life.

That’s what God’s grace can do. It can bring about healing to those suffering from horrible diseases. Though there’s no guarantee of healing, these two stories clearly reveal that it is His desire to heal. It may not happen in this lifetime, for obviously we will all die of something some day if the Lord doesn’t return before then. But if Jesus was willing to heal so many people of the diseases that afflicted them when he walked upon the earth, then surely he has that same desire now. So even if healing does not come to us now, we still have the hope that we will be healed and made whole in the age to come. And that hope is made possible because Jesus is full of grace and truth.

We began this series a little over a month ago to see all the ways that Jesus is full of grace and truth, just as the apostle John said he was (John 1:14). Since then, we’ve seen how he showed grace by healing paralysis, a broken friendship, confusion, blindness, doubt, and hunger and thirst. We’ve covered lots of ground, but we’re not done yet.

Last week I told you how I love spring. This week I’m going to tell you about something else I love – pizza! I have loved pizza for as long as I can remember. My best friend lived right across the street from me when I was growing up. I have clear memories of running over to his house anytime I saw the pizza delivery guy in his family’s driveway. It became so commonplace that my friend’s family wondered where I was if I didn’t show up right away at their front door. His family was always very nice and let me share in the yummy goodness of their warm, cheesy pizza.

I wish I could say the same about myself. As unselfish as my friend’s family was with their pizza, I was not always that way with things that I had or enjoyed. For example, I had a lot of baseball cards as a kid. I collected them, organized them by their teams, and kept them in shoe boxes. I didn’t like anyone messing with them, especially the World Series cards, which were my absolute favorites. I’d often take them out and look at them, read them, and memorize all the facts about them. I could tell you which teams were in each World Series, who won, how many games it took, and what some of the highlights and who some of the heroes were. These were special cards to me and I cherished them. From what I can recall, none of the other kids in the neighborhood had these cards. No one else was allowed to touch them without my permission.

Looking back on those baseball cards and my attitude toward them, I feel like I was one of the seagulls on “Finding Nemo” calling out, “Mine, mine, mine!” There was certainly a selfish streak in me when it came to those cards. I wasn’t about to share them with anyone.

There is someone in the Bible who also demonstrated traits of selfishness. His name was Zacchaeus, and he was a chief tax collector. If we knew nothing else about him, that would tell us something. Tax collectors, to put it mildly, were not very well liked by the Jews for several reasons. First, the taxes were meant for the detested Roman Empire, so the Jews hated paying them. Second, the tax collectors were Jews themselves, and they were working with the hated Romans, which made them traitors in the eyes of their countrymen. And third, they often took more than was required and were enriching themselves off their fellow countrymen.

That’s exactly where we find Zacchaeus. As Luke records, he was a very wealthy man (Luke 19:2). And as we will later find out, he didn’t exactly earn this wealth honestly. He loved money, and he wasn’t about to share it with anyone.

Yet despite how selfish he may have been, there was something about Jesus that caught his attention. He surely had heard of Jesus and knew some things about him, otherwise why would he care. His curiosity was piqued, and he was determined to see Jesus as he was passing through Jericho, Zacchaeus’ hometown. Because Zacchaeus was a short man and couldn’t see above the crowds that had gathered around, he climbed up a tree to get a better look. This didn’t go unnoticed by Jesus, who said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today (Luke 19:3-5).”

It’s at this point in the story that we can see how the people felt about Zacchaeus. Stunned by Jesus’ offer and Zacchaeus’ acceptance, the crowd muttered, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner (Luke 19:7).” Considering him to be a sinner demonstrates the lack of regard and love the crowd had for him, and it also explains their surprise that Jesus would go to his house.

But where the crowd seemed to be dismayed that Jesus would go to the house of a sinner, Jesus saw an opportunity to reveal grace and truth to a lost and selfish soul. We don’t know much about the contents of their conversation, but there was definitely something transformative that took place in Zacchaeus’ house. Perhaps it was simply the fact that Jesus wanted to come visit him.  Perhaps it was that he gave him the time of day when no one else would. Maybe those generous acts of grace was all Zacchaeus needed to be changed forever. Whatever it was, he was a totally different man after spending time with Jesus. It led Zacchaeus to declare, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount (Luke 19:8).”

Now how’s that for a complete turnaround? From being a selfish, greedy swindler, he went on to become a man of generosity and one who wanted to make things right. That’s what the loving grace of Jesus does. As his love deeply impacts us and fills our heart, the selfish attitudes we once carried get slowly squeezed out. We become people of grace too and the love he filled us with spills over into the lives of people we encounter.

When we are transformed by the grace and truth of Jesus, we too will experience the joy that Zacchaeus surely felt. Now freed from the chains of selfishness that had long enslaved him and most likely left him empty and searching, he was now free to love and care for others, which is a much more gratifying way to live. That life awaits each of us too. And anytime someone who is lost in their own self-absorbed lives encounters the grace of Jesus, they, like Zacchaeus, will too experience the joy of hearing their Savior say, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:9-10).”

I love springtime. There’s something about the air getting a little warmer, the sun shining brighter, the sky getting bluer (Is that a word?), and everything growing again after a hard, cold winter. And I like the nice spring breezes, the birds singing, and the sounds and sights of people doing things outside. Life has returned!

That’s the upside. Now for the downside. Inevitably, spring gives way to summer. Heat and humidity arrive, and doing yard work becomes increasingly a chore. There’s nothing like getting hot, sweaty, and exhausted after spending several hours outdoors on a Saturday mowing and trimming in 95 degrees and 100% humidity. By the time you’re done, you’re absolutely parched and running on empty. The first thing I want to do in moments like that is down an ice cold beverage to wash away the thirst and grab a bite to eat to take care of the hunger.

While it’s important to take care of our bodies when we’re thirsty and hungry, there’s another kind of thirst and hunger that needs to be satisfied too. In fact, our spiritual thirst and hunger is far more important.

It’s amazing the things we humans will do to try to satisfy that thirst and hunger. We’ll try filling ourselves up with fame, fortune, and pleasure. We’ll try to do so through our careers, our possessions, and our relationships. We’ll even go so far as to abuse drugs, alcohol, food, sex, money, and even people, all in the name of getting what we want. And yet through it all, we still remain very empty inside. Why? Because as the writer of Hebrews recognized, while there can be pleasure in sin, it is a fleeting pleasure and can never bring the true joy, contentment, and peace that we all seek. In fact, all that it really does is leave us craving for more.

Part of the problem is that we often don’t even recognize that we are suffering from spiritual thirst and hunger. And so we just keep chasing after things that don’t meet our true need, and the thirst and hunger persist.

There was a Samaritan woman who serves as a perfect illustration of what I’m talking about. We find her story in John 4 when Jesus engaged her in a conversation at a well. What a perfect setting for Jesus to reveal just how thirsty she really was.

After being stunned that Jesus, a Jew, would ask her, a Samaritan, for a drink, Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water (John 4:10).”

Not understanding what Jesus meant, the woman replied, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water (John 4:11)?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14).”

Now Jesus has her right where he wants her.  Her curiosity is piqued. She just had to have the water Jesus was offering. The time was right to expose her true thirst.

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

“I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true (John 4:16-18).”

The text does not come out and clearly say why she had had so many husbands. It’s possible that all of them may have died. It’s certainly true that the well-being of women in that culture depended greatly on their being married. But the fact that she was now living with a man and not married to him could suggest that something more may have been going on in her heart. It’s possible that the number of relationships she had had in her life indicated a desire to find fulfillment, happiness, and love in male companionship. Whatever the case may be, she was about to find what her thirsty heart longed for.

She could clearly see that Jesus was some kind of a prophet. He had to be, otherwise how would he know these things about her. In an apparent attempt to learn more about him, she said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he (John 4:25-26).”

With that declaration, her life was changed forever. Leaving her water jar behind, she immediately went into town and told everyone about Jesus. The love that she had been searching for all her life she found in her Messiah, her Savior, her God. Her thirst was quenched at the moment she realized who he was – perfect love!

It is the knowledge that we are perfectly loved that brings the fulfillment, contentment, and peace that we all long for. That’s because when we know we are loved, we also know that we are accepted, and all our fears of incurring the wrath and condemnation of God begin to be washed away when we experience the love and acceptance of our heavenly Father. Just as Jesus didn’t condemn the woman at the well, so he doesn’t condemn us. Instead he desires to root out of us everything that prevents us from knowing his pure and perfect love. He doesn’t give us what we expect we deserve; he gives us what we need in order to ultimately have the relationship with him that he richly desires. That’s grace, and that’s how our thirst is finally quenched.

It’s the same with our spiritual hunger too. Just as Jesus fed the 5,000 to satisfy their physical hunger, so he is ready to feed us all with the food we truly need. And what is that food? Let’s allow Jesus to explain.

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:32-35).”

Jesus indeed is the bread of life and the living water. He brings life to all who are hungry and thirsty because he is full of grace and truth. Let him bring satisfaction and fulfillment to your life.