West Park Baptist Church

Loving God, Loving People, Impacting the World

Jesus Christ

Advent 2020 – 1 John 4:10 (Dec. 24)

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In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10, ESV)

“God loved us and sent His Son.” From their earliest weeks in Awana, each of our kids has memorized that sentence. I can still hear their little voices repeating back those words as we helped them learn them. I’m so grateful for the Awana ministry at our church, and I’m grateful even more that they are learning that wonderful truth at such an early age. 

It’s a sentence that all of us would benefit from memorizing, no matter how old we get! The Apostle John, well in his 80s by this point, had obviously never gotten over the amazing love of God. 

But there’s a big word that often gets left out of the sentence for young and old. And that word is propitiation. It’s admittedly a bit hard to say, and it’s not used in everyday speech. So what is propitiation? The basic definition is this: turning away all of God’s wrath for sin and turning all God’s attention to us as favor. In other words, Jesus our Savior took on Himself all of God’s anger toward us due to our sin until all of God’s wrath was completely satisfied and poured out. It’s like imagining a cup that’s full and turned over until every last drop is poured out. That’s what happened to God’s wrath. Jesus the Lord drank every last drop for all who call on Him by faith for salvation. What an amazing gift! 

But please don’t miss this crucial thing: God the Father was not distant, angry, and unwilling to forgive sinners until Jesus satisfied Him. No, for our text tells us that even when we were the rightful recipients of all God’s wrath, even when He had all those charges against us, God loved us! This is the mystery of the heart of our God: that although He was full of justified anger toward sinners, He loved them and gave them His greatest gift, His own Son. 

Oh, remember this Christmas Eve that the Father loved you and sent His Son. Remember that all God’s wrath towards you, if you have believed on Jesus Christ for salvation, has been completely satisfied. Now God looks on you with favor, motivated to withhold no good thing from you. And if you have a Christmas tree or any gifts nearby, may they remind you of one of the greatest gifts of God to you: propitiation for your sins. 

Advent 2020 – John 3:16-19 (Dec. 20)

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We have now reached week 4 of Advent. It’s Sunday today, the Lord’s day. Another day to worship the Lord, an opportunity to head to church, and another week to light an Advent candle. This week we will focus on how the Lord Jesus gives us peace.

John 3:16 is likely the most famous Bible verse of all time. It’s definitely the most familiar and clear summary of the good news. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, ESV)

Advent declares the message of the Loving and Giving God. When we were at war with God, heading to eternal punishment, God loved us and gave His Son for us. Loving us so much, God did not want us to perish in our sins, separated from Him for all eternity. Giving us His Son, God came near us, declaring that He would take the penalty for our sin, declaring His way to make peace with us. 

Have you bought all the Christmas gifts that you planned to get? If not, you still have a few days. But when you give those gifts to others this week, make it a time of celebration and joy. Remember the Giver, God Himself, who gave us His Son. You can never out-give the Giver!

Advent 2020 – Zechariah 9:9 (Dec. 19)

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This week it has been good to focus on joy. We need joy to rule our hearts, and not to give in to what our circumstances and feelings might otherwise demand. The joy we’ve read about this week in our Advent passages has described the joy of knowing Jesus Christ and placing Him first in our lives. 

Zechariah was a prophet to the Jews who returned from exile in Persia to Jerusalem. The temple was not yet rebuilt, and the construction often halted. Zechariah encouraged the people to not give up, to trust the Lord to rebuild them as a nation, and that the long-awaited Messiah King would come. 

Have you ever felt discouraged in recent days that your work or your relationships or something else important was just too hard for you to work at? I imagine that’s how the Jewish people felt when they looked at their unfinished temple, longing for the glory of the old temple, and wondering if God would keep His promises to send the King. 

Zechariah wanted to encourage the people, so he wrote what God told him to record for them.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9, ESV)

Rejoice greatly. What might that look like? I imagine it was a lot like the people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem the day He rode in on that colt. They cried out with excitement, they cheered; they threw their coats on the dirty ground for Jesus to ride over. Their joy reached a fever pitch as they cried out, “Come save!” Joy in seeing your King arrive would cause any of us to forget ourselves and join in the glad song of welcome that the Savior King is here! 

We are like the Jews in Zechariah’s day. We are easily discouraged and lose sight of the promises of God. Yet, Advent is a time to remember that God’s promises are certain. Jesus rode into Jerusalem as our King. And if you read 2 more verses in Zechariah (chapter 9, verses 10-11), you’ll see that the prophecy that Jesus fulfilled by riding on the colt is not fully accomplished just yet. Some day, and maybe soon, the King will return to fully make right all the wrongs and reign from His throne here on earth. Again, we say, Come, gracious King! Rule in all our hearts and on Your throne. 

Even now, let every heart prepare Him room. 

Advent 2020 – Isaiah 53 (Dec. 12)

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There’s a Christmas album that my family and I love to listen to every Advent season. It’s called Behold the Lamb of God, and it’s produced and performed by Andrew Peterson and many of his friends. It’s a musical journey through the themes of the Old Testament leading up to and culminating in the birth of Jesus Christ.

In one song Andrew Peterson sings a song called “So Long, Moses.” It’s a song that covers the time of the book of Joshua up to the Old Testament prophets. It spans the trials and sins of Israel as they eagerly look for a mighty King to come, to rescue and to establish them in the land. 

As the song builds you get the sense that Israel almost gives up waiting for the king. Saul, David, Solomon and then a series of failures leading up to the Babylonian captivity leave the people disillusioned and broken. Yet, they ask Isaiah the prophet, who saw in a vision from God what would happen after the time of their captivity,

So speak, Isaiah / Prophet of Judah / Can you tell of the One / This king who’s going to come? / Will he be a king on a throne / Full of power with a sword in his fist? ‘ Prophet, tell us will there be another king like this? / Full of wisdom, full of strength / The hearts of the people are his / Prophet, tell us will there be another king like this?

You feel the desperation of the people in those words. Isaiah responds in the song,

He’ll bear no beauty or glory / Rejected, despised / A man of such sorrow / We’ll cover our eyes. / He’ll take up our sickness / Carry our tears / For his people / He will be pierced / He’ll be crushed for our evils / Our punishment feel / By his wounds / We will be healed.

Our journey this week through Scripture has revealed the way of God – the way of salvation and the way to paradise. For us to get there, for us to have the perfect King ruling over all this earth, for us to be saved, the King had to suffer and be crushed for our sins. 

Think of the pain and suffering He endured for you.

Isaiah 53:4–6

[4] Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
[5] But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
[6] All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (ESV)

This year has been hard, revealing at times our worst, and revealing the utter helplessness of man to save himself. By default we want the crown but not the suffering. Jesus put aside His crown and endured the suffering in the place of lost and hopeless sinners. 

When this winter seems dark, and when our plans seem to be dashed, remember Isaiah 53. The King put aside His rightful place on the throne, entered our dark world, and took on the sins of us sinners. Jesus knows what it is like to experience pain, loss, suffering, and separation from God. He did these things so that our experience of them in this life could be redeemed, so our pain, loss and suffering would never be connected to separation from God. He is with us in our suffering right now, and by His wounds all our sins and griefs and brokenness will be ministered to and eventually… completely healed. 

 

Here’s a link to the song “So Long, Moses” by Andrew Peterson. 

Advent 2020 – 1 Peter 2:6-8 (Dec. 11)

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1 Peter 2:6

[6] For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (ESV)

Have you built any gingerbread houses yet this season? 

My family likes the fun task of putting gingerbread houses together. Getting the walls just right. Making the cement out of powdered sugar. Laying on the roof. Then decking out the house with all manor of candy, especially the various bits of colorful leftover Halloween candy. It’s all fun, except for those times when we argue over who gets to put up the walls and where the candies should go! 

The thing about gingerbread houses is getting things started just right so the rest of the house can stand up straight and remain secure. That’s the point of a cornerstone. We don’t typically use cornerstones to build gingerbread houses, but they are essential when building real buildings, and the cornerstone appears in our Advent Bible reading today. Peter wrote in chapter 2 about the cornerstone and tells us that in God’s plan Jesus is the Cornerstone. What does that mean? 

A cornerstone is crucial for laying a stable and secure foundation of a building. It’s likely in Israel’s past, according to Psalm 118:22, that some architects made a poor judgment, thinking a stone was not the right size or shape for the building they were making and threw it away. However, upon a second and closer look, they discovered they’d made a mistake. The stone was actually perfect and just right for the building foundation. That would be a tragic mistake to make! 

Jesus refers to that Psalm and that situation and says that the Jewish religious leaders of His day looked at Him and judged Jesus to be a worthless troublemaker. They rejected Jesus just like their ancestors rejected the cornerstone. However, just as the cornerstone was later determined to be perfect, so Jesus would be proven to be the Son of God and the Messiah. 

I am so encouraged by the promise of 1 Peter 2:6. God Himself has laid the Cornerstone of Jesus Christ. He is the Foundation, and if anyone (truly anyone) trusts in Him, they will never be ashamed! This is the way of the Lord. By faith, we believe that Jesus Christ is all we need to have security and safety. All who build on Jesus Christ as their Cornerstone are being built up into a people pleasing to God.

I’ve built a few gingerbread houses in my day, but nothing I’ve made even compares to the beauty of God’s design. He’s putting together a living building, with people saved and secure in His Son, and living to experience His goodness and provision. 

Tomorrow we will read more about what happened to Jesus so we can experience secure salvation. Before the Cornerstone was placed in God’s building, He was rejected. 

Advent 2020 – Isaiah 11:1-10 (Dec. 8)

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Isaiah 11:10

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (ESV)

Paradise. 

What is your perception of the perfect country? What type of things would be there? What things would not? Who would you want to be there? Who would you not?

John Lennon had an idea. He shared it in his hit song “Imagine” in 1971. Here’s what he said we should imagine: 

Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

I don’t aim here to pick on John Lennon, but I use his song above to illustrate the typical way that people who don’t know the God of all grace think about paradise. For those who haven’t tasted to see that the Lord is good, paradise can’t have God, it can’t have any religion, it can’t be nationally-based, and there can’t be any war. Paradise must include, though, peace. Somehow. All you have to do is believe it’s possible for people to achieve it – to make paradise. 

Let’s consider the prophet Isaiah’s hit song in Isaiah 11:1-10. I’ll put some selective lyrics below:

Isaiah 11:1–2

[1] There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
[2] And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. (ESV)

Isaiah 11:6–9

[6] The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
[7] The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
[8] The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
[9] They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. (ESV)

The preceding chapters describe the judgment of God on the wicked nations being like taking an axe to a giant forest and leaving nothing standing. That’s why chapter 11:1 begins with a “stump.” Out of all the nations of the world, the Jewish nation would produce the Ruler who would usher in paradise for the entire world! The stump was Jesse, the father of King David. The branch is the Messiah, Jesus Christ. 

What will His paradise be like? It will be centered on the one and only true God. It will be rooted in the Jewish nation. It will be ruled by One who delights in the fear of the LORD. Predators will be transformed into peaceful and peace-keeping beings. The smallest of children will face no threat by serpents. Prosperity will ever increase. Wars will cease. And nations will no longer seek to oppress other nations. Instead, all nations will seek after the Lord, to know the Messiah, to worship Him. Because only the Messiah can make paradise.

Oh, friends, the entrance back into paradise can only be gained through Jesus Christ. 

 

Advent 2020 – Gen. 3:1-15 (Dec. 4)

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These daily devotional readings accompany the Advent at Home guide prepared by the West Park Prayer Ministry Team. If you haven’t already, download the advent scripture reading schedule here.

Genesis 3:15

[15] I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” (ESV)

This week we’ve looked at some tragic situations in God’s Word. The siege of Judah in Micah’s day. The list of fleshly deeds Christians can fall prey to in Romans 13. But the worst tragedy for people was also the first tragedy – the fall of mankind into sin and away from God. What hope could possibly come out of such tragedy?

In the earliest verses of Genesis 3, the man and the woman sin by eating the fruit God told them not to eat, then quickly experience the fear, blame-shifting, isolation, and arrogance that resulted from their disobedience. They had believed the lie of the snake, and they suffered for it. 

God did not abandon them, and that is the first sign of hope. He pursued His disobedient children, judged them for their sin, and offered them a promise that their lives could still be redeemed. The promise occurs in verse 15, and it is sometimes called the protoevangelium, or “first gospel.” 

God speaks to the snake in verse 15, judging it for misrepresenting Him to the people. The judgment is this: one day, a descendent of the woman would crush the head of the snake. Although the snake would damage the heal of the man, that man would deliver the death blow to the snake. There’s hope in that promise: hope that mankind would be delivered from the tyranny and fear of death. Hope that a deliverer would come to defeat the enemy. 

In Hebrews 2:14–15 we read the New Testament fulfillment of that promise in Genesis 3:15. It tells us that Jesus the Christ in His first advent came to deliver us from the power of the snake. 

[14] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, [15] and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (ESV)

Admittedly, the battle still goes on today as we fight in the current spiritual war. But our hope today is based on the victory the Lord Jesus won over Satan when Jesus died on the cross. We can rejoice in the battle that our enemy’s head has been crushed. He can’t go on for much longer in his rage against God’s church. The promise you can hold on to today is Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (ESV)

 

Advent 2020 – Isaiah 2:2-5 (Dec. 1)

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Isaiah 2:2–5

            [2] It shall come to pass in the latter days

                        that the mountain of the house of the LORD

            shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

                        and shall be lifted up above the hills;

            and all the nations shall flow to it,

            [3]        and many peoples shall come, and say:

            “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

                        to the house of the God of Jacob,

            that he may teach us his ways

                        and that we may walk in his paths.”

            For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

                        and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

            [4] He shall judge between the nations,

                        and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

            and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

                        and their spears into pruning hooks;

            nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

                        neither shall they learn war anymore.

            [5] O house of Jacob,

                        come, let us walk

                        in the light of the LORD. (ESV)

Advent literally means “arrival,” and for us who know the Lord it refers to the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and King of all kings. The prophet Isaiah wrote about the arrival of King Jesus in today’s passage. In Isaiah’s day his country Judah was under constant threat of war, vulnerable and right in the middle of powerful powerful nations seeking to control it. Think of how amazing Isaiah’s prediction of a future reign of the Christ would have sounded to such discouraged people!

Read the verses again and think about the news of the King.

What kind of King would He be?

What kind of things would He do as King?

There’s only good news about Jesus the Messiah. We need the good news all the more today. Our world may seem quite dark with people turning away from God instead of turning to Him. But believe the good news that the King will still come to rule with perfect justice, settling all wars and disputes, and He Himself will teach us all we long to know about Him.

Even now, as Isaiah commanded Judah in his day, walk in the light of the LORD! Don’t look into the darkness of our culture and time, but purpose today to walk in the light of Jesus Christ, our King.