Randy Frazee's Blog, page 2

Are you searching to Belong?

I am going to suggest that the best place for you to turn for help as you embark on this search to belong is a local church. In our postmodern age, the church is the one institution that has community built into its mission as a non-negotiable. The mission of the church is to develop people into followers of Jesus Christ, and to do this it takes a community. The author of Hebrews lays out the priority of community, writing: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” The development of meaningful relationships where every member carries a significant sense of belonging is central to what it means to be the church. The church is not a building, it is a God-ordained gathering of people saved by the grace of God. The purpose and calling of the church is given by God, with the guarantee that even “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Yet in the busyness of the American lifestyle, people who profess faith in Jesus Christ and do not attend church make up the largest religious category in the United States today. If the author of Hebrews were writing his words of challenge to us today, he would write, “Let us not give up meeting together, as most are in the habit of doing.”

from Connecting Church 2.0 (Release Date Feb. 15, 2013)

The First Christmas Scandal

A young couple is engaged to be married. Out of nowhere she ends up pregnant. Her fiancé is not the father. When word gets out in the little town of Nazareth, where they are from, it will be big news.

What is a man to do when he finds this out? Well, Joseph wasn’t the angry, haughty type. He loved Mary and didn’t want her to be the object of the public gossip mill. So, his best idea was to simply break off the engagement quietly and move on with his life. This is how Joseph saw it coming down from his view of the story.

But in the upper story God sees it differently. We don’t have a scandal on our hands, but a solution. And not just any old solution to any old problem. This is The Solution to The Problem. Do you know what our #1 problem is? Sin

The Bible tells us that sin is what causes our death. And, if we die in our sin, we will be forever separated from God. Long ago when Adam and Eve rejected God’s vision, God determined that he was going to provide the way to get us back. The baby in Mary’s womb is that way.

Joseph’s plan makes great sense in the lower story but it alters what God had in mind from the upper story. Time for an angel to have a chat with Joseph. As was common in Bible times, the angel appears to Joseph in a dream. Here is what the angel says, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20b-21)

The angel tells him that the baby in Mary’s womb did not come from the seed of another man – she did not have a scandalous affair. The seed came from the Holy Spirit.

Why is this important? Well, it certainly had to be a relief that Mary, his bride to be, didn’t cheat on him. But there is more. Remember all the way back in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. We learned in the story of Cain and Abel – when Cain ruthlessly took the life of his brother out of jealously, that the sin nature is transmitted to all of Adam and Eve’s offspring through the seed of the man. That is how you got your sin nature. That is why starting over with Noah’s family didn’t work. While Noah was truly a righteous man, meaning he really tried hard to do what was right, he was a carrier of the virus. And when you have sin in you, it will eventually come out.

The one in the womb of Mary has not been conceived by the seed of man but of the Holy Spirit. This means that the sin nature has not been transmitted to the child in her womb. From the lower story it looked like the baby would be conceived out of a sin. Now we learn from the upper story that he has been conceived without sin. This is big news.

The angel instructs Joseph that the child is a boy – a divine sonogram – and that he is to name him Jesus. Jesus is essentially the name “Joshua” which means “God saves.” His name makes sense because that will be his mission. “He will save the people from their sins.”

We don’t know yet how Jesus will do this, but we know the outcome – the removal of the sin in our lives that keeps us from a relationship with God. Everything since the day Adam and Eve were escorted from the Garden the Story has been pointing to this day. It is finally here. God has kept his promise.

How would you like to wake up from a dream like that? Although Joseph likely had a lot of questions swimming around in his head – like “how does one go about parenting God” – (“hey Jesus, need help with your science homework tonight? Oh, I forgot, you created everything, you probably already know the answer) – he made up his mind on what he was going to do. He calls for a get together with Mary. You can imagine how nervous she must have been. Historians tell us she might have been just 14 years, maybe 16. “What is Joseph going to do?” is Mary’s primary concern. The ball is in his court. From the lower story perspective, he had good reason to be angry.

Joseph tells her about his upper story encounter. He tells her he knows what is going on and how all this happened. Then he grabs her by the hand and looks her square in the eye and says, “If you are still willing, I would love to be your husband. We will get through this together.” They get married and the baby Jesus grows inside her.

The arrival of Jesus is going to change everything. How?

Later in the story we are told over and over again that when we accept Jesus as our Savior, the forgiver of our sins, he comes into us like he came into Mary – not into our womb, but into our lives – not as a fetus but as a force. “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” If Christ is found in us then we will have the absolute hope to conquer death and be united with God forever.

Now for believers listening to these words – just as in Mary’s case, as Jesus grew in her, he just had to eventually come out. The same is true of us today. As Jesus’ life grows in us, he eventually will come out of us as well, for people to see. Through our eyes, our listening ears, our mouths, our hands, and our feet. And we want all the people in our lives to see Jesus because -

His birth is not the result of a scandal…but a solution to our scandal – our sin

But first he wants to be born in you. In order for him to come out, he must first be invited to come in. Jesus tells us that he is standing at your heart’s door and knocking right now and wanting to know if you will let him in. We shouldn’t do what the innkeeper did and say, “There is no room in my inn.” Rather, we should do the very same thing Mary did. She was willing to make her heart his Bethlehem. Are you willing to say to Christ this Christmas season, “Be Born in Me?”

Take a listen to “Be Born in Me” from “The Story”. Music by Francesca Battistelli. http://vimeo.com/28824759

 

No Room at The Inn?

“One of my favorite stories for the Christmas season is about a nine-year-old boy named Wallace Purling. It is adapted from a story by Dina Donahue that was published in Guideposts, Trouble at the Inn and submitted by Dr. William T. McConnell to the Pastor’s Story Files.

Wallace was nine. Larger than most kids, he was also slow in mind. But the children all liked him. He was so much bigger than they, but he never bullied them. In fact, he was the ever-present defender of the smaller boys.

Wally wanted very much to be in the Christmas play that year. He hoped he could be a shepherd. But the teacher had a larger part in mind. Wally was big enough to be the innkeeper, she reasoned. And so it was the Wallace Purling got the part of the innkeeper. He was given the part. Oh, how he practiced.

The night of the play everything went beautifully. No one even missed a line. At last the play came to the part where Mary and Joseph knocked on the door of the inn.

“What do you want?” Wallace asked, opening the door with a brusque gesture.

“We seek lodging?” came the response.

“Seek it elsewhere, the inn is filled.”

“But sir, we have tried elsewhere, we have come a long way, and we are very tired.” They responded.

“Go away,” Wally properly commanded. “There is no room in my inn for you.”

“But sir, my wife is with child. Don’t you have a corner where we can get of the cold?”

For the first time the innkeeper broke his icy stare and looked at Mary. There was a long silence. The audience was tense with embarrassment because they thought Wallace had forgotten his lines.

“No, be gone.” The prompter whispered.

“No, be gone.” Wally said halfheartedly.

Joseph sadly placed his arm around Mary as they began to move off the stage. Suddenly, this Christmas program became different from all the others. Wallace Purling could stand it no longer. Big he was – cruel he could never be. With big tears welling up in his eyes he gave a performance others would never forget. “Wait, don’t go Joseph!” Wally called. “Bring Mary back.” Wallace Purling’s face grew into a bright smile. “You can have my room and I’ll sleep out in the cold.”

Some said the pageant was ruined. Others knew better. Wallace Purling caught the real spirit of Christmas – that of giving and sacrifice.”

Submitted by Dr. William T. McConnell, First Christian Church, Harrison, Ohio

The Pastor’s Story File, Volume 12, Number 2

Who is Santa Claus?

Today I want to tell you the story of this guy we call Santa.

The Early Days:

First thing you need to know is that he hasn’t always been a plump old man with white hair and beard and rosy cheeks. He started off as a baby just like you and me. He was born in AD 280 in a town called Patara in modern day Turkey – which was called Asia Minor back then.

His parents were strong Christians thanks to Paul. As we return to our study of the book of Acts in January, we will see Paul taking the gospel of Christ to the “ends of the earth” just like Acts 1:8 instructed. In Acts 21:1 we read that Paul visited Patara on his third missionary journey. People became Christ followers and 223 years later a baby was born to Christian parents. The baby’s name – Nicholas. Nicholas’ parents both died when he was only 9 years old. Wow! However, his parents were very wealthy and left Nicholas with more than enough money to live off of.

We learn early on that something significant was stirring in the young heart of Nicholas. Nicholas was captured by the idea of “being Jesus” to others, particularly the poor children in his own town of Patara. He was captured by the teaching of Jesus; it stirred in his mind and soul. Passages like Acts 20:35 where Paul quotes Jesus:

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

And passages like Matthew 6:1-4:

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Nicholas was raised and greatly influence by a local priest named Phillip. Nicholas had a stirring to help the poor children of his town. He had the resources to help but didn’t know how to do it. Phillip guided him.

His first acts of anonymous gift giving during the night came when Nicholas was only 12 years old. There was a man living in town by the name of Shem who lost his income and his wife. He had three daughters who were at the marrying age. However, in those days a young woman had to have a dowry (or money) to get married. There was no way he could provide his daughter’s dowry. Nicholas wanted to give him the money but didn’t want to embarrass or humiliate the father by having a 12 year old do this for him. So he decided to sneak into their house at night. He put the money in each of the girl’s stockings which were hanging over the fire to dry for them to use the next day. In the morning the village was full of the news that old Shem’s daughters had miraculously received dowries from an unknown stranger, who’d somehow gotten in their house during the night to leave his wonderful gifts in their stockings. The three girls got married and lived happy lives. This is how it began – at the age of 12.

Nicholas continued to do this in his town but one night decided to venture into a nearby town of Myra. Nicholas is now 16 years old. He overheard a visiting merchant tell of a poor child in Myra who was crippled and her mother, a widow, neglected her. There was a dressmaker in town that wanted to hire her to keep customer accounts but she couldn’t get there. Nicholas thought if she had a stout pair of crutches she could make the short journey.

So, he ventured out to Myra about 20 miles away. He went through his usual routine of entering into the house (a dirty, tiny one-room house infested with mice and spiders,) at night and left the money necessary to buy a pair of crutches in the young girl’s stocking. He soon found out that the mother took the money for the daughter and spent it on herself. So, Nicholas decided to go back, but this time he didn’t leave money but an actual pair of crutches.

A few weeks later, the same merchant was back in town and reported to the locals that the girl miraculously received the crutches and took the job with the dressmaker. But the story doesn’t end there. Two months later, so proud of her daughter, the mother got a job and together they were about to get a better and cleaner home.

A Bishop:

At the age of 16 his friend, mentor and priest, Phillip, encouraged him to become a priest and bishop. By the age of 22, after his schooling, Nicholas became the Bishop of Myra. As a Bishop, Nicholas had a special gift to touch and pray for people and they would be healed of blindness, of lameness. Years later, because of his verifiable miracles, the church venerated him and made him a saint – thus the name Saint Nicholas.

As a Bishop and with his wealth, he had many opportunities to travel. When he went into a town he listened for the stories of children who were struggling. At night, he would enter into their house and give them the gifts they needed. During this time under the Roman Empire children and young adults were put on the auction blocks in the public square and sold to the highest bidder as slaves. Bishop Nicholas was known for purchasing numerous slaves and then setting them free.

While his goal was to stay anonymous, several people got small glimpses of Nicholas, particularly his red Bishops coat. People eventually found out the identity of Nicholas. At the age of 63, AD 343, Nicholas died and was buried in a tomb in Myra.  However, now listen to this, the gift giving at night continued, not just in Turkey but he began to pop up all over the world. Some say he didn’t die at all, but this is when he moved to the North Pole.

As his gift giving showed up in other parts of the world his name looked different:

Italy – Babbo Natale

Spain – Papa Noel

Dutch – Sinter Klaas

Hawaii – Kanakaloka

United States – Santa Claus

How does he do it? Is it the Reindeer? Does God cause the world to stand still like he did for Joshua in the Bible the night that the gifts are delivered all over the world? Most believe Santa has lots of helpers – some people call them elves.

What a great story! But, there’s a challenge to all of us.

A Challenge:

We need to take up the same challenge that captured Saint Nick. We need to not let our lives or Christmas to be about us, but about other people – particularly the poor, particularly children and widows who have no family. Oh, that we would take the teaching of Jesus as seriously as Saint Nicholas. That pure hearts would break for children and hurting people not only at Christmas time but throughout the year.