was separated from God. But, God wanted to reconcile fallen humanity, so He sent His Son to give His life as a sacrifice so we could be restored to Him. 1st Corinthians 15:
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Jesus came into the earth as a baby, at Christmas, born of a woman, partaking in humanity and living a perfect life as a human being; tempted, yet victorious. He was sentenced to die, but death could not hold Him because of that perfect life - He was raised from the dead and we can be raised up with Him, raised to new life, dying to self and living to Him. He came into a broken world so that men and women could experience hope and restoration.
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Welcome to 25, this year's Christmas "Advent-ure." This has become a yearly ritual here on The Meeting House, and I want you to participate with us...just go to the website, FaithRadio.org or the Faith Radio app, and you can actually download the Advent guide. Or, check out the Fall edition of the Faith Radio Ministry Magazine.
The theme is "Let's Worship Jesus." And, the Day 1 Scripture is found in Genesis 3:15. We worship God because of "Victory Over the Enemy," which is today's topic. After Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation, God pronounced this to the serpent:
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
In other words, Christ, the Seed of a woman would "bruise" the head of Satan, even though he would try to thwart the plan of God, or "bruise His heel." Satan's schemes could not keep Jesus in the grave, for death could not hold Him, for He was sinless.
16 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you."
17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
Here we see a picture of brokenness...a brokenness that we encounter every single day as residents of this fallen world. There is the potential for conflict between male and female that is laid out here.
But, through the gospel, through the presence of Christ, we can have hope. And, He is the One who is able to cause people to live in harmony. In His order, according to His principles, He shows us how to exist together. In Christ, there is no battle of the sexes and there is a proper view of mutual respect.
The warped view of sexuality that has become so prevalent in our culture has continued to proliferate. And, it's not surprising that we have seen so many in entertainment culture who have exhibited moral failure. They are the ones that have been feeding our culture unbiblical and immoral ideas about sexuality for years. I am just wondering if finally people are saying, "enough."
One of the latest examples of men behaving badly involves the former host of NBC's TODAY Show, Matt Lauer, who was fired earlier this week for inappropriate sexual behavior. This news rocked the entertainment industry and some of Lauer's own co-workers, including the co-hosts of the fourth hour of the TODAY Show, Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford.
We have known Kathie Lee throughout the years to be a person who has spoken about her faith in Christ, and that faith motivated her response on the air on Wednesday. The story on the FaithIt.com website reports:
Reflecting on a time in her marriage when her late husband Frank had betrayed her, Kathie Lee stresses the importance of fighting against the urge to question your own judgment.
In both circumstances for Kathie Lee, whether it be with Frank, or now learning the faults of her friend Matt Lauer, she says it’s a matter of holding tight to the love you have always had for that person, and recognizing that we will all fall short of the glory of God.
“No person is perfect in this world, nobody is,” she says. “We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, is what scripture says. And what we need now is forgiveness. And we need mercy for one another. And we don’t need taunts, and we don’t need ugliness, we have enough of that in the world.”Her comments continued:
“I send out my love right now to the person who came forward, may God heal that person. I send it to Matt, and his children and his wife, may God bless that family and heal…I’m sorry Hoda, but in my long life, the only thing I’ve ever been sure of is that only God can heal it, and there’s no bad time to reach out for His help.”And, now this statement, which we really need to get: "We are all so broken, and we need somebody to put us back together, and it’s possible.”
We. Are. All. So. Broken.
That's the word for each of us today - God came to heal the brokenhearted; He has come to heal and restore. Sin came into the world in a garden, and after that evil act, God pronounced judgment on the enemy of our souls. The power of sin is great; the power of God is greater.
If we want to experience His healing and hope, we have to approach God with humility. Just as we humbled ourselves when we accepted Christ as our Savior, we have to consistently admit our need for Him and allow His strength to be our strength.
In our own power, it is difficult or impossible to extend or receive true forgiveness. But, in Christ, we can experience not only His forgiveness for us when we sin, but the grace to forgive others.
Today's Advent-ure theme: Victory Over the Enemy. Satan will warp our view; He will deceive us and try to get us off track in our walk with God. Even though he has negatively impacted this fallen world, we can have hope in Christ. He enables us to walk in forgiveness for past sins and to experience victory when we are tempted - we can be successful in overcoming temptation as we rely on the power and presence of God.
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