Dear Faith Families,
This week begins the season of Advent. The word Advent come from the Latin, “adventus” meaning, “coming,” or “arrival.” During the season of Advent, we remember the promise delivered to the saints long ago, that a Savior would be born.
We all need saving. We are all broken, sinful people. Selfishness, greed, lust, bitterness, and all the other human flaws lead us into deep darkness. God makes this clear in His Law. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
We all need saving. Our sin is a problem that we cannot solve. We pretend that we can overpower it with our own good deeds; or that it just doesn’t matter what we do. But we can never please God with our wisdom or strength. And everywhere in our world we see evidence that even the best human efforts fail to solve our problems. Despite all our hard work to usher in a golden age, there remains so much hatred, confusion, and evil everywhere we look. Things are not get better. They’re getting worse.
The prophet Isaiah points to this reality, even as he looks forward to the coming (advent) of our Savior and King. He writes,
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9:2)
Sin. Suffering. Death. This is the darkness we face in our world. But the light in shining in the darkness. And Jesus is that light.
Isaiah continues, saying:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
We all need saving. We need to be rescued from the darkness of this world; and the darkness of our own sin. And God has done it. This is the miracle of Christmas. The Savior whose coming was foretold has now arrived. He is Jesus Christ, who is the light shining in the darkness. He bears the sins of the world and defeats them. And ONLY in Him is there hope and a future.
It can be easy to get caught up in the fun of the Christmas season. Decorations, cookies and cocoa, an elf on a shelf, trees and lights and a mountain of gifts — these frivolous things have somehow become the normal image of the American Christmas. But take them all away, and the real, deep, powerful meaning of Christmas remains. Because Christmas is about one thing: The Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in the flesh, to rescues us from sin, death and the devil, by His own death on the Holy Cross.
Dear friends, I eagerly invite you to make this true, deep, powerful meaning of Christmas the focal point of this season. Come to worship. Come and adore your Savior and King, Jesus Christ. And receive form Him the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. For all these are yours, by faith in Him!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Shaun