A. Donald MacLeod

GREAT ADVENT AFFIRMATIONS:

The Faithful Sayings of the Pastoral Letters

(1) A Faithful Salvation:

“Christ came to save sinners”

(I Timothy 1:15)

NIV: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”

The Message: “Here's a word you can take to heart and depend on:

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.

I'm proof – Public Sinner Number One – ”

This is surely one of the most amazing verses in the whole of the Bible. It stands there starkly as a Mount Everest of Scripture, towering over any other attempt to summarize what the Christian faith is all about. If there is one text that I would like most to be remembered for in my ministry of eight and a half years in this place it is this single verse. It is, in a remarkable sense, a summing up of everything that I have been attempting to teach and preach since I first came here. If I had a single verse that summarized my faith it would be I Timothy chapter one, verse 15.

And yet it terrorizes preachers. The most eloquent of them all, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said Paul’s words here imposed a terrible burden on the minister that makes it his text. “I am sore vexed, and my heart is troubled, not concerning what I have to preach, but how I shall preach it. What if so good a message should fail because of so ill an ambassador? What if my hearers should reject this saying of all acceptation, because I may announce it with lack of earnestness?” But the real problem was its simplicity: “Well I cannot preach upon that text - it is too plain, there is no mystery in it, I cannot show my learning: it is just a plain, common sense announcement.”

Yet God always powerfully speaks when this verse is used. Over the centuries, I dare say, it has been used by God to bring more people to faith than almost any other. I think, for example, of the brilliant preacher Hugh Latimer, adulated by the crowds who thronged his services at Cambridge. A young man in the audience had been praying for his salvation. The orator came down out of the pulpit and rubbed against the student. “This is my moment,” he prayed, and summoning up his courage he said: “Father Latimer, may I confess my soul to thee?”

And he nods, escorts him into a side room. Bilney falls at his feet and speaks of the aching hunger of his heart, of his purchase of a Bible, and then he quotes our text today. “There it stood,” the tears streaming in his eyes, “the very word I wanted. It seemed to be written in letters of light: ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into world to save sinners.’ I went to the priests and they ... mocked my thirst! I bore the load of my sins until my soul was crushed beneath the burden! And then I saw that indeed Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief; and now, being justified by faith I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ!” And Latimer rises from his chair, kneels beside him and the Father confessor seeks guidance from his penitent, reads the text, and the faith that he received that day led him to the fires of Smithfield, that lighted a candle in England that will never be extinguished.¹

(1) The gospel in a sentence: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners

It is so basic, this single sentence, yet so utterly profound:

It speaks of a Saviour -

Christ Jesus is Paul’s preferred name for the Galilean. He speaks of Him as being first and foremost the Promised One, the anointed of God. But He is also Jesus, the One who would save His people from their sins.

It speaks of One coming to earth -

here Paul is using the language of John. The fourth gospel begins with the words “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”² When Jesus meets Nicodemus we are reminded “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”³ As the hour of his departure drew near He said: “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness ... I did not come to judge the world but to save it.”⁴ And finally in his closing remarks to His anxious disciples as they are about to go to Gethsemane and Calvary: prayer“I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”⁵ That night of nights Jesus left His heavenly home to enter a world of tragedy, loss and sin. The whole meaning of Christmas is that the One who was rich beyond all telling all for love’s sake became poor, emptied Himself of all but love, and died for Adam’s helpless race.

It speaks of His mission as being “to save sinners”

Zacchaeus was one of those sinners. You’ll remember that, short man that he was, he climbed a tree. Jesus called him down from the sycamore and announced that he wanted to eat with him, a tax collector. People shook their heads and said: “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” Jesus responded: “Today salvation has come to this house. The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”⁶

Archibald Alexander, as he lay dying, October 22, 1851, said to a friend, “All my theology is reduced now to this narrow compass: ‘This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’”

(2) The absolute reliability of this statement: “a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation”

The good news is almost, if you think about it at all, too good to be true. But Paul is emphatic: this is “a faithful saying.” This is the first of the five “faithful sayings” that we are going to be looking at during the Advent season. They are little gems placed in these three final letters of Paul’s, a legacy to his “son” Timothy and his “brother” Titus. The churches that they serve are in Ephesus and on the island of Crete: these faithful sayings are to be handed on to “faithful men” who are able to instruct others.⁷

And they are worthy of all acceptation. These faithful sayings are universal in their application, they are words that are to be received and appropriated by all. They are not just for Timothy and Titus: they are to be generally made available for everyone.

(3) The personal confidence this statement gives the believer

And they have meant everything to Paul. “of whom I am chief.” Paul the blasphemer, the persecutor: he could never forget the dark blot of his past when he did everything he could to exterminate the Christian religion. “I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”⁸ He, “the very least of all saints,”⁹ was the recipient of God’s redeeming grace and love. And, what is even more amazing, he was called to proclaim to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. God’s grace in Jesus is truly amazing.

And you? What dark stain is there on your past? What secret lurks in your heart? There is no stain so deep, no wrong so vile, that Jesus Christ cannot save you. “His love has no limit, his grace has no measure, His power has no boundary known unto man.”¹⁰

My dear friends of St Andrew’s: in a few short days my ministry in your midst will come to an end. I do not want any of you, this first Sunday of Advent, to leave this place without my having pressed on you the claim of Jesus Christ to be your Saviour. He is here among us, the sinner’s friend. No one is more aware than this preacher of my need of salvation. I connect with Paul’s deep sense of unworthiness. But, as I look back over the years, the only claim I can make for being more than just another unprofitable servant is that Jesus has come alive to some of my hearers and that they have (to use the old Puritan expression) “closed with Christ.”

I sometimes stand on the high fell behind our other home in the Lake District in England and look north to Scotland , and the Solway Firth , and on to the town of Anwoth where Samuel Rutherford was once minister. As the end drew near this pastor wondered if he would ever meet any of his parishioners as he stood before Jesus in eternity. His words were later expressed in poetry by Annie Cousin:

“Fair Anwoth by the Solway,

To me thou still are dear! ...

Oh! if one soul from Anwoth

Meet me at God’s right hand,

My Heaven will be two Heavens,

In Immanuel’s land.”¹¹

My friend:

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”

GREAT ADVENT AFFIRMATIONS:

The Faithful Sayings of the Pastoral Letters

(2) A Faithful Calling: “A Noble Task”

(I Timothy 3:1)

As I drive down Yonge Street , Toronto , just south of St Clair (not far from where my stamp club has its monthly meetings) I pass Ramsden Park . I never fail to remember a momentous Fall day in 1968 when, as a church planter just turned thirty, I did something that few other ministers have the opportunity ever to do in their years of service. With one of the so-called assessor elders (brought in from another congregation by Presbytery to help found a new church) I sat on the grass and chose four men whom I could work with to be the first Session of the fledgling congregation I had started in the suburbs. We went through the roll of founding members - all thirty of them - and I selected, on the basis of a year’s knowledge, whom I thought would make a good team, persons who had (in spite of their age) demonstrated spiritual maturity and had evidenced qualities of leadership. Within a few days our list was approved unanimously by the congregation. And then the fun began: training, developing and equipping leaders. When I left seven years later I was told that these men were doing such a great job that “We didn’t miss you at all.” Far from being a putdown, I took it as high commendation for a church planter who had his job well.

Our second “faithful saying” from the pastorals is a strange one, you may think. The first is perhaps the profoundest - and also the simplest - statement of the Christian faith. “Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners.” The second one appears almost anticlimactic. Paul is taking up a familiar proverb that was probably going the rounds and says “Here is a trustworthy (or faithful) saying: ‘If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer he desires a noble task.” Commentators have puzzled over why Paul would elevate a statement about eldership to be a faithful saying. Obviously scribes had similar questions as there’s a textual variant that has “human” instead of “faithful.” Others have said it refers back to the reference to women in the previous verses, which would really set the cat among the pigeons. And you may have a more practical question: “Why would you choose this verse to preach on at a communion in Advent, of all times?”

Well, your elders will be serving you communion shortly, and I am leaving this congregation the end of the month. It’s a good time to reflect on leadership and why we can have confidence in the future of St Andrew’s and why all of us need to recognize that this church is only as strong as its leadership is as faith-ful followers of Jesus Christ as the only King and Head of this congregation. As of the 1^st of January, 2006, they’re in charge of the day by day operation of St Andrew’s. As you take communion this morning from their hands you need to do so with a prayer that God will protect and bless all of us as they are given empowering grace and wisdom. And that prayer needs to continue throughout the vacancy.

You see the eldership is what makes us a presby-terian church: a church ruled by presbyters and elders. One of the elders I chose and was elected immediately ordered a picture from the National Gallery of Scotland titled “The Ordination of Elders” painted by J. H. Lorimer in 1891. It was painted in Arncroach: the “minister” was the local sheriff. The pulpit was John Knox’s, now at St Andrew’s University. But it’s the elders I want you to look at: on the minister’s immediate right is John Keddie who cut corn with a scythe for a living. John Walker next was a mason, next to him is a shale miner. On his left there’s the village carter, a blacksmith and unofficial vet, and finally a day labourer. In other words these elders are ordinary men with an extraordinary calling.

That’s the point that Paul is making: being an elder is “a noble task.” It’s the way that God works in empowering ordinary women and men to do something extraordinary. Let’s follow the verse because much of how you come out at the other end of the vacancy depends on your Session.

(1) A task that stretches a person

“If anyone desires the office of an overseer.” Paul uses an unusual word for “desires.” Literally it means “stretch,” “reach out.” It involves an awareness of who you are if you are set apart for the task, a demand that you be more than you are in and of yourself. It implies something more than what you would ordinarily be capable of. If an elder is doing their job, they need every sinew of spiritual strength that they can muster. And they need your prayers to do the job well for they are accountable to the “chief Shepherd.”

And it’s the office that you stretch out to, not the title or the position, or the prestige. Elders are called to be followers of Jesus, the Servant King. He’s the One that we lift up and it’s His Holy Spirit that enables us to do the daunting task of an elder. As Peter reminds his readers the elders must be “eager to serve, not lording over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”¹²

And what is that task? An elder is a pastor of his or her district, a man or woman who regularly prays for and with those entrusted to their care. An elder is a person who is called upon to exercise wisdom and judgment sometimes adjudicating in complex issues. The Session in the American Presbyterian church is called a judicatory, in Canada it’s a court.

(2) A task that calls for leadership

What is this “noble task” which is so demanding? Paul describes the elder in an unusual word: “episkopos” from which we get our word “bishop.” But it’s not the concept of “bishop” that we have in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches. That would come later. Literally it means “someone placed over” hence our word “overseer.” An overseer is basically one who is called to lead. That’s their job.

Leadership today is in short supply. Who wants to be a leader, to make oneself vulnerable to all kinds of potshots and criticism and backbiting? Who ever thanks a leader these days? Why stick your neck out when all you will get is to have a beheading? There is a crisis of authority and respect for anyone who is “in charge.” No one will volunteer: coaches, scout leaders. Teachers long for that magic day when they qualify for a pension. Clergy are dropping out of the ministry like flies. There’s got to be an easier way to make a living.

What is a leader? A leader is not someone who struts and preens. A leader according to the gospel is someone who follows, follows Jesus Christ. He or she is in step with the Master. Then and only then can they call out to others and have the boldness - and the vulnerability - to say: “Follow me.” It’s not something anyone should crave. And, difficult as it is to find leaders, sometimes today it is even more onerous to find followers: “Who does he or she think they are?” “I’m as good as him or her: he or she is not going to tell me what I can do.”

And yet today society - and the church with it - cries out for leadership. The mainline churches in Canada are in a profound distemper, drifting. People cry out, in their heart of hearts, for someone to guide them. And the challenge is for those who are willing to stretch themselves to be overseers.

(3) A task that should deepen faith

At the end of the chapter, having described the tasks of overseers and deacons, Paul focuses on what he calls “the mystery of godliness.” He speaks of Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, vindicated by the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, now taken up to glory.” Those in leadership are called on to exemplify Jesus, to be living examples of who He was and is. He is the One who came to earth, lived and died among us, and is now in glory.

How often recently have you heard someone called “godly”? What does the word suggest to you? The concept is strange to our ears, but to Paul it’s the essential quality that binds the church together. Leaders are supposed to be models, but all members of the church are to be growing closer to God as they grow close to each other. We are part of a great movement of human history as women and men are swept up into eternity.

So we gather around the Lord’s Table, for the last time I will be celebrating with you. I have been your leader for the past eight years and seven months. The time has gone quickly. We have been together through many experiences. This church is a very different place than it was when I came.

Some years ago I sat in the ruins of Miletus , port city of Ephesus , now in Turkey . I read Paul’s parting words to the elders of that congregation, words I pray can truthfully be said of mine and any and all gospel ministries: “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.” And then to his fellow elders the charge: “Keep watch over the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”¹³

Let us come to the Lord’s Table and recommit ourselves to that sacrifice. And may God richly bless you as you work with your Session discovering God’s new chapter for St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Trenton .

GREAT ADVENT AFFIRMATIONS:

The Faithful Sayings of the Pastoral Letters

(3) A Faithful Anticipation:

“Our hope is in the living God”

(I Timothy 4:9, 10)

NIV: This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance

(and for this we labor and strive),

that we have put our hope in the living God,

who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

The Message: You can count on this. Take it to heart.

This is why we've thrown ourselves into this venture so totally.

We're banking on the living God,

Savior of all men and women, especially believers.

They call it the battle of the bumper stickers. Annoyed at the number of cars that had a fish on their car others retaliated with a fish with two legs under it. “It was an act of ritual aggression against Christianity” said a professor of speech communication at the University of Georgia who visited parking lots in five states and put 140 surveys on cars with the Darwin logo asking: “Why did you put this emblem on your car?” “What audience did you intend to reach?” “What does the Darwin fish mean to you?” Fifty-one returned the survey and two-thirds of them stated that Christians were their primary target audience.

The answers were astonishing: “I believe the Darwin fish sums up my religious beliefs,” one replied. Another stated: “Humans are no better than chickens, redwoods, fireflies, earthworms, goldfish, algae or infectious salmonella, just because we walk upright and have opposable thumbs” As another stated: “I use it to display the symbol of my group, which believes natural processes explain the world around us.” The professor concluded: “By inserting Darwin ’s name in the place on the fish icon usually reserved for Christ, the icthus symbol is ritually profaned or emptied of its religious meaning.”¹⁴

What does the fish - Greek ichthus - mean? It’s a symbol that goes back to the earliest days of the Christian religion. It’s actually an acrostic, each letter presenting a part of our faith: the “I” stands for Iesus, the “ch” for Christ, the “u” for uios, son, the “th” for theos, God, and the final “s” for soter, or Saviour. When Christians were a despised minority in the Roman Empire , persecuted for their faith, they would identify their secret (and common) faith by drawing a semicircle. The other secret believer would repeat it, completing a fish. Then they knew they were brothers or sisters with a shared faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Saviour.

So it comes down to this: can we explain the world by purely natural causes. Is salvation survival of the fittest, subject to arbitrary chance. Or is there a Creator, a sovereign Lord of time and eternity, who sent His only Son into the world to be a Saviour. And at this Advent season, as we sing “Christ the Saviour is born” in one of our carols, we commemorate the arrival of Jesus (meaning the One “who would save His people from their sins”) who was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, who is - and this is where the claim His followers for Him matters to each of us - my Saviour. Paul tells Timothy in this third faithful saying “we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”

(1) The affirmation: “the living God ... is the Saviour of all”

The message of the angels is clear. The first Christmas Eve they announced to shepherds: “To you in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord.”¹⁵ The word Saviour had deep significance. Caesar Augustus was on the throne, bringing peace and prosperity throughout the Empire. A Saviour, according to Greek mythology, was to bring in an unprecedented golden age. He would be a deliverer, a saver of life. The coming of the Christ then is to initiate a golden age of harmony and justice. The world through the birth of this child would be delivered from its weight of sin, the bondage of darkness, and the evil of despair. And this infant’s birth as Saviour would challenge the one during whose reign He was born. More than the god Zeus whom the Greeks called Saviour, more than any philosopher or king, Jesus would be the real Saviour of the world.

That was the promise that had been given to the Jews in the Old Testament. “‘Surely they are my people,” God says to them through Isaiah the prophet. “Sons who will not be false to me.’ And so he became their Savior. In all their distress he too was distressed ... in his love and mercy he redeemed them, he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”¹⁶ Mary, who knew her Scriptures, knows when she is told that she is to bear a Child conceived by the Holy Spirit, that the One in her womb is none other than the promised Saviour. In the Magnificat she expresses her joy: “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.”¹⁷

But he is not only the Saviour of those of us who believe. He is also the Saviour of all. Is Paul teaching here universal salvation? That even if humans do not acknowledge Jesus to be the Christ, God’s Son and particularly Saviour that they will be saved, regardless of whether they want to or not. No, quite the contrary. What Paul is suggesting is that God’s care is experienced in all creation. He’s got the whole world in His hands: whether humankind knows it or not. That’s the point that Paul makes at the Areopagus in Athens . God, he reminds his pagan listeners, “is not far from any of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.”¹⁸ God is infinitely kind to all of us, irrespective of whether we admit His presence. He wants everyone to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. And so everyone experiences the often unacknowledged presence of the Almighty in their lives. Without that love and patience we would not exist.

(2) What does this affirmation mean to us? “Our hope in the living God”

To acknowledge God as my Saviour, to experience personally His love and mercy, to know that not a sparrow falls without His awareness, that even the hairs of my head are numbered, is to be in possession of a priceless gift. The knowledge that God is my Saviour means that I have hope.

Hope in a living God. My hope is not in some political, institutional, or philosophic Saviour. My hope is made possible because of my Saviour, Jesus. And it is a hope that continues. I am in a constant state of hope. The Greek here is in the perfect tense. My hope continues, it exists because I have a loadstar, a point of the compass, by which the whole of my life is directed, and in which my very being is grounded. Jesus is my Saviour.

Two things you need to know about what “hope” meant to the earliest Christians and what it can mean to you. “Hope” was not some wish that might or might not happen. They were not hoping against hope, anxious lest their hopes be denied. Theirs was a strong and courageous hope that saw them throughout life grounded and centered in Jesus. And this Jesus was their living Lord. The second thing you need to know is that their hope was focused on a resurrected Lord. Easter to them meant that Jesus had done the impossible: He had come back from death and pointed the way beyond the grave. “I live and because I live you shall live also” was His confident assurance. Theirs was a hope that sprung out of an open tomb and an empty grave.

(3) What we are to do with this hope “for this we labor and strive”

So Paul declares that this living hope is something we must cling to, in spite of everything in life that would destroy our confidence. “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive).” It’s not something that we can take for granted. It’s something that demands our continual and unceasing effort.

The word “cling to” (as some translations correctly render it) is basically an athletic word. We are in training. We are exercising our spiritual muscles, we need to keep in shape, flatten those abs, work out until we drop. It’s what I do in swimming every morning. Putting everything I’ve got into completing my mile, pacing myself, keeping my eye on the prize. I need constantly to keep in spiritual shape. If I miss a couple of days I begin to feel it, grow flabby, the old body starts complaining. It’s a struggle but keeping in shape is worth it.

It’s only as we constantly keep our eyes on the prize, as Paul reminds Timothy as he comes to the end of his ministry, that we will end as we began as believers, confident in our Saviour’s risen power, filled with the hope of His and our resurrection, faithful to the end. That’s why he entrusts this faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, passing it on to the younger Timothy, and to us this morning.

As Eugene Petersen beautifully paraphrases our text: “You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we've thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We're banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers .”

GREAT ADVENT AFFIRMATIONS:

The Faithful Sayings of the Pastoral Letters

(4) A Faithful Nativity:

“When the love of God our Saviour appeared”

(Titus 3:4-8)

⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,

⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace,

we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

⁸ This is a trustworthy saying.

And I want you to stress these things,

so that those who have trusted in God may be careful

to devote themselves to doing what is good.

These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

At 10:32 this past Friday evening we were awoken by a call. Sleepily I reached out for the telephone and an excited voice announce the birth of our fifth grandchild. She had been born at 10:04 at Mount Sinai Hospital , Toronto , after a labour of only thirty minutes, and weighed in at six pounds four ounces. Said child is still, as of Saturday afternoon, unnamed. Her brother and sister were introduced to their sibling: sister, aged almost five, was excited and wanted to pick her up. Brother, aged three, was much more interested in a recently acquired toy. Such was the latest nativity in our family, a Christmas gift to us all though the child herself will hardly appreciate the proximity of birthday and Christmas celebrations.

A child is born, a nativity. It is paradoxical that, in spite of the Puritan condemnation of celebrating Christmas, the greatest seasonal hymn ever composed was written by the Puritan John Milton. His Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity set the gold standard for all carols:

“This is the Month and this the happy morn

Wherein the Son of Heav’n’s eternal King,

Of wedded Maid and Virgin Mother born,

Our great redemption from above did bring;”

Milton chides the heavenly muses:

“Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,

To welcome him to this his new abode”?

Yes, Milton, is outdone only by the apostle Paul in this first Christmas carol, a fragment from a Christian hymn or liturgy, that would be familiar to Titus and to the Christians on the island of Crete :

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,

he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

so that, having been justified by his grace,

we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

(1) Christmas: God taking the initiative

This faithful saying speaks of a point in time when “the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared.” That is what we celebrate at this time of the year: the coming into the world of the virgin-born Son of God. The skies rang out that first Christmas Eve with the message: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” As Paul reminds the Galatians: “When the time had fully come God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of sons.”¹⁹ It was the time of times, the point at which we mark off all subsequent time, the division between “Before Christ” and “The Year of our Lord.” Bethlehem marked the decisive point in human history.

But the choice of that time was up to God: He chose the moment and the place where His only Son would be born. Christmas is too great a marvel and mystery to be thought up by anyone other than God Himself. “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” It was as though the cry of this weary and sin-sick world came up to the Father and He gave the greatest gift that any parent can give: “He gave His Son, sent Him into the world. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son.”

Christmas is a gift none of us deserved. God reached out and touched planet earth. I am not left to fend for myself. God had mercy on humankind. He sent Jesus who would save His people from their sins.

(2) Christmas: God’s second Genesis

And how did this come about? “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” The same Holy Spirit who impregnated Mary is the One who is poured out on those who bear the name of the virgin-born Child. Christmas is the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit on this sin-stained world. We are washed, cleansed, purified by the gift of the Child. He came to set His people free from the burden of their sin, He came to bring both rebirth and renewal.

If Genesis is the beginning, announcing at the outset of the Bible that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” so at Christmas there is, according to the rare word that Paul uses here²⁰, a second Genesis. God having created the world, now recreates it with the birth of Jesus. The seed of the woman is about to bruise the heel of the serpent, as was promised as our first ancestors were thrown out of the garden of bliss for their disobedience²¹.

Rebirth is immediate and once-and-for-all. The Holy Spirit also renews us. The word used here is unusual: the only other place is the familiar Romans 12:2: “the renewing of our minds.” The process of renewal is a day-by-day encounter with the living Lord. We cannot slake our thirst once and for all: we need a daily pouring out on us by the Holy Spirit of the miracle of Christmas. Christmas is not just a single day in the year: the wonder of the gift of the Christ Child and His living and abiding presence is a continuous and continuing phenomenon. Every day in that sense is Christmas: and the wonder of the birth of the Christ child should mean more to us each year. Christmas is not for children only, it is also an adult phenomenon and our wonder and awe at the coming of Jesus should deepen with each year.

(3) Christmas: the promise of an inheritance

Christmas and the giving of the Christ child also points ahead. Yes, Bethlehem signals Calvary , Good Friday is implicit in Christmas. But the first Advent signals a second coming of Jesus. The arrival of Jesus that first Christmas Eve has in it a promise of a future arrival under vastly different circumstances. As He came once, so He will come again. That is a promise.

This season should be a time of hope, but often it is quite the opposite. Christmas carries with it so much freight, so many memories of holidays past, emphasizing our sense of loss, even abandonment. Paul states that the celebration of the appearing of Christ reminds us of a future filled with promise, not a reason for fear and despair. Christmas is God’s promissory note of a wonderful future that awaits us. It is the guarantee that God always keeps His promise, that as “the Desire of all nations” came once long ago in answer to the prophetic word, likewise He will come again. We can depend on this trustworthy saying:“So that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

Titus is to “stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.” We need to be reminded of what the appearing of the kindness and love of God in Jesus really meant. It’s so easy to get distracted by the season and to forget what the heart of the Christmas story really is.

I remember vividly the first Christmas of my ministry. I was alone, a city boy in a large manse in a remote part of rural Nova Scotia , not sure how I was going to get through the holiday so far from family and everything familiar. I finally called good friends and they invited me to spend the holiday with them in Montreal . I boarded the train at New Glasgow and took the long ride through snowbound New Brunswick , finally arriving in the big city on Christmas Eve.

That trip had been made more pleasant because when I boarded I discovered our Presbytery deaconess and her fiancé, a student minister from another rural charge, were going to their wedding in Ontario , scheduled for New Year’s Eve. I remember the trip and that Christmas as though it was yesterday: friendly conversation, the warm hospitality of welcoming friends. I waved good-bye to that happy couple at Central Station and never saw the groom again. Eighteen days later he was dead, killed when his Volkswagen beatle spun out of control on an icy road as he returned to his congregation for the weekend from studies at Acadia University .

Last May, for my visit to Sydney , I was interviewed by a reporter with the Cape Breton Post. I recognized his name and, yes, on inquiry the reporter turned out to be a brother. Eagerly he asked for my memories of that Christmas train ride and how I remembered his brother. The accident had driven him away from church, angry at a God who allowed a faithful and much loved pastor to have his young life snuffed out and his bride left a widow. But now forty-two years later he has come back to his childhood faith. He’s learning a lesson some never discover, that even in tragedy God gives us the strength to go on and that God’s love sustains us no matter what may happen. We spoke of how short any of our lives really are, how important family and faith are, and we need to make the most of every chance we’re given to share love, God’s love, revealed that first Christmas as there may never be another opportunity.

“For when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

Do you share that hope, the hope that is Christmas, this morning? If you don’t discover what Christmas is all about: God taking the initiative for you, allowing you to begin all over again, and bringing you hope and a promise of everlasting life.

GREAT ADVENT AFFIRMATIONS:

(5) A Narnia Christmas:

The Rider On A White Horse:

“Faithful and True”

(Revelation 19:11)

This Christmas it seems the whole world has discovered the magical land of Narnia . Director Andrew Adamson’s just released film has captured the imagination of critics: Rick Groen of Toronto ’s Globe and Mail gives it an unusual four-star rating. He apologizes for the “unavoidably Christian images” but says, in spite of that, the film is really excellent. Or, could it be that the film is so telling because it has Christian truth at its base, told in a way that seems almost inescapable. “J. K. Rowlings, move over,” Groen concludes.

Who can forget that opening as the bombs rain down on London and the four Penvensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, are packed off to rural England , the home of Professor Kirke. They think it will be bor-ing, but soon they discover a whole new world, that opens as Lucy works her way through the wardrobe and enters a forest with snow underfoot.

It is a land that is always winter and never Christmas. The first person she meets is Tumnus and he explains that winter has gone on and on, endlessly for years. The only thing that can possibly end winter is the coming of Aslan the lion. Aslan will restore the world to light and laughter. But first the White Witch must be dealt with. Only in that way will brother Edmund be redeemed, and winter will end, and Christmas will finally come.

Aslan the Lion is, as the reviews point out, and as few who see the film can surely not fail to grasp, is the Christ figure. He is locked in mortal combat with the White Witch and the story ends in a climactic battle in which the once dead and now resurrected Aslan is conqueror and Christmas comes to Narnia. But the conflict with darkness, winter, is real.

C. S. Lewis chose his imagery well. The Bible speaks of Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah . It is easy for us to turn the little baby in a manger into a domesticated tabby-cat, weak and powerless, amid the powerful images of evil, darkness, disaster, that have marked the year that is past. It is not just the natural - tsunami’s, earthquakes, hurricanes - but the unnatural - the kidnapings, murders, starvation, that has afflicted our planet. As the old carol we will shortly sing says

“But with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long”²²

Is the angel song that first Christmas of “peace on earth, good will to humankind” a charade, an illusion? It is not just humanity en masse. Hearts are breaking this Christmas. But that is winter and Christmas, as Lucy said and as the story of Narnia demonstrated, is indeed coming to a world that needs to hear the angels sing.

The book of Revelation, which speaks of that second Advent to which the Advent season points, provides another image of Aslan. This time he is not a Lion but He is riding a horse. He has welcomed guests to the wedding feast as the Bridegroom but then He charges off on a white horse. His identity, like that of Aslan in Narnia, remains a mystery but we soon learn that He has three names:“Faithful and True,” “the Word of God,” and “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” His eyes blaze with fire and is crowned with many crowns. His robe is dipped in blood - His blood or the blood of the martyrs, or perhaps both. Or maybe even of His foes. He leads a mighty army going forth in battle to conquer.

Jesus, the child of the manger, the healer and teacher, the crucified Lord, and the resurrected Saviour: he is indeed both faithful and true. We can trust Him through all the contradictions and uncertainties of life. We can know that He is reliable for He called Himself “the truth.” Our lives, our futures, our loved ones: they are all secure and safe in His hands. The same Jesus who came in love that first Christmas Eve will be there for us.

And He is a God of justice, His sharp sword striking down the nations. He is indeed at Christmastide, the Lord whose truth will prevail. He looks down on our planet with love and mercy, but He is not someone who can be trifled with. As the detective writer Dorothy Sayers once wrote we have de-clawed the Lion of Judah, placed Him in a cage of our own making. Aslan as we have recast Him has no teeth. But everything that we know about Jesus suggests otherwise.

There was a time in Narnia when the children asked to know more about the Lion King. “Is [Aslan] quite safe?” they inquire. And Mr Beaver replied: “If there’s anyone that can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else quite silly.” “Then isn’t he safe?” Lucy asks. “Safe? ... who said anything but safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

Jesus Christ will settle for nothing less than to be at the center of your life, of the life of your family, at the heart of this church. And do not fear, when we have the Jesus of the Bible, the Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords we are safe. Nothing less, no domesticated tabby cat, will do. This world needs Aslan the Lion King if the darkness is to be dispelled and Christmas is to come.

Trust Him with all your heart.

He is faithful and true.

GREAT ADVENT AFFIRMATIONS:

The Faithful Savings of the Pastoral Letters

(6) A Faithful Pledge:

“If we ... he will” (II Timothy 2:11 -13)

¹¹ This is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him, we will also live with him:

¹² if we endure, we will also reign with him.

If we disown him, he will also deny us;

¹³ if we are faithless, he will remain faithful,

for He cannot disown Himself.

J B Phillips:

I rely on this saying:

If we died with him we shall also live with him:

if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him,

If we deny him he will also deny us:

yet if we are faithless he always remains faithful.

He cannot deny his own nature.

Home is where we all want to be this Christmas. Bing Crosby first crooned “I’ll be home for Christmas” back in 1943 as World War II was in full swing. Our neighbors to the south are again this Christmas locked in combat in Iraq in a seemingly endless struggle to establish democracy there and defeat the insurgency. And America seems to be tiring of the fight. Morale in some places is low and the military are far from home.

Those of you in the military can particularly relate to a special Christmas website set up this year by the American military channeling messages of hope and encouragement to those fighting in Iraq . “Post a message to our soldiers” provides a window at Christmas to what is going on in homes across the United States . 53,165 people have sent a word to the troops. A twelve year has written: “To: all soldiers From: magen copeland in texas hi, am magen copeland and I am 12 going on 13 and I would like to wish yall' a merry christmas and a happy new year thank you so much for protecting us and im really sorry that yall' cant spend christmas with family but you can with your friends that you have with you thanks again for protecting us!”

But as a Canadian I was struck by how many of these messages have religious content. One particularly caught my eye: “To: Dad (1Lt. Darren Koberlein) From: Your son Brett, daughter Brooke and wife Natalie in Kansas ‘But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run; and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.’ Daddy we think of you every day, we love you and Merry Christmas.”²³

Paul, in this final ‘trustworthy saying’ is coming to the end of his own pilgrimage. He’s worried about his ‘son’ (by adoption) Timothy. He uses military language “Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” he admonishes him. He commends his own example, speaking of the chains that bind him to his guard 24/7. “I’m doing it all for your sake, so that you will prevail and win out at the end.” Then he quotes a hymn,

¹¹ This is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him, we will also live with him:

¹² if we endure, we will also reign with him.

If we disown him, he will also deny us;

¹³ if we are faithless, he will remain faithful,

for He cannot disown Himself.

I can think of nothing more appropriate on this final Sunday of my ministry at St Andrew’s than to speak of the most comforting truth of our faith, what our forebears called “the perseverance of the saints.”

(1) Four ‘if’s’

This trustworthy saying gives us four alternatives in life, two positive, two negative. The first pair involve the decisive commitment of our life to Jesus Christ. The most significant step any woman or man can make is to die with Christ, in other words to be identified with Jesus in his death, to take up one’s cross and follow the Master, to “endure” to the end, to that time when we will know even as we are known. We look forward to the victor’s crown, the laurels that come when the athlete has come first to the finish line. We anticipate the final triumph of Christ’s kingdom and we will reign with Him as “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.”²⁴ But there is also a warning here: if we disown Him, if we are faithless, He deny us. It is not the person who starts out ahead of everyone else that necessarily wins at the end. We must always watch and pray. Nothing in the Christian life can be taken for granted.

The Christmas/New Year’s holidays are a time for looking back at the “what if’s” of our life. We think of all the “what might have been’s” and reflect on where we are now and what might have turned out differently. I look back on my almost nine years with you and think of things I might have done differently, of decisions and choices that you - and I made individually and as a church - that have brought us to this point in our lives.

(2) One incontrovertible fact

So what is it that sustains us in the battle? What makes us run and not be weary, to walk and not faint? It is none other than the great promise that is contained at the end of this faithful saying. “Even if we disown Him, even if we are faithless” we can count on one thing: “He will remain faithful, He cannot disown Himself.” Or as J. B. Phillips has it: “he always remains faithful. He cannot deny his own nature.”

Jesus said: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”²⁵ James Montgomery Boice used to explain that text by referring what a carpenter does in driving a long nail through two boards. He will then ‘clinch’ it by turning the boards over and driving the point of the nail sideways, so that the nail cannot work itself out of that position. Eternal life is the first hammer blow. It cannot be lost for otherwise it would not be eternal. So he clinches it: “they shall never perish.” But then he drives a second nail: “no one shall ever snatch them out of my hand.”²⁶ Our position is secure.

The faithfulness of God to you and to me is my final charge to you as a congregation. We can go over all the “what if’s” of our life together as a congregation for these nine years. I have my regrets, ways in which I may have failed you, as you may have yours as you look back over the past. But the abiding confidence that we have is in the unfathomable and unshakeable love of God. As Paul says in words that I have quoted at every one of the more than eighty funerals I have conducted since I came here: “Who shall separate us from the love of God?”²⁷ The answer comes back with ringing clarity: absolutely nothing.

We may never be together again, as pastor and people, but we know amid all the changes of life that there is one constant: God Almighty, “Jesus Christ ... the same yesterday and today and forever.”²⁸ As Paul said to his Philippian brothers and sisters, so I say to you as I leave you: “being confident of this: that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”²⁹