With everything that is swirling around in this turbulent winter, there are lots of rumours about Christmas 2020 being cancelled, curtailed, or at least more complicated.  Maybe you are trying to work out how to do church without the normal December schedule of carol services and special events. Maybe you are ordering all your presents online for the first time, or just wondering if you will be able to spend time with loved ones at all this year.

Even if Christmas could be cancelled, the Incarnation cannot.  And that is a reason to rejoice, whatever our circumstances.

Here are ten implications of the Incarnation – ten realities that cannot be cancelled, but must be celebrated in 2020 just as in every other year:

1. Revelation.  As the Christmas story draws to a close in Luke 2, we see Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus into the temple courts, where they encountered Simeon.  He took Jesus into his arms and declared that he was now ready to die, for he had seen God’s salvation, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles…” (Luke 2:29-32) Because Jesus had come, Simeon was ready to go.  Nothing could top that moment.  Let’s pray that the wonder of the revealing of God’s saving person and plan would shine bright in our hearts this winter.  We have Jesus; what more do we need?

2. Response.  Walking through Luke’s narrative will show us many realities to celebrate as we think about the Incarnation.  In Luke 1:13 we see Zechariah stunned at the sight of the angel standing beside the altar of incense in the temple:  “Your prayer has been heard…”  Maybe this was a prayer from years earlier, maybe even decades had passed since he had prayed about having a son, but God is a God who hears prayer and responds to it.  Let’s pray in the midst of dark times, confident that God hears prayer and responds to it.  That first Christmas demonstrates to us that God hears, God cares, and God is more than able to respond.

3. Invasion.  Zechariah was stunned to hear that his wife would be giving birth (a miracle!), and that their boy would have a key role to play in God’s plan (greater still!), because he would prepare the way for the Lord himself (the greatest news!!).  After centuries of silence from heaven, now this!  Not just an angelic visit.  Not just a miracle birth.  But the moment when the Lord himself would invade this world (see Luke 1:17).  Let’s pray that we would not miss the significance of the hinge of history – the moment when God the Son stepped into this world on his great eternal rescue mission!

4. Reign.  After Zechariah we see young Mary, startled by the angel bringing her the glorious notification.  In the midst of all he told her, we read these words: “the Lord God will give to him the throne . . . and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32-33) The Son of God wasn’t just touching down for a brief incursion.  This invasion would lead to a kingdom, a kingdom that, unlike human governments, would not be temporary.  Let’s pray with confidence that our King is on the throne, and will be on the throne, forever.  The story of human empires rising and falling will conclude with one perfect human reigning over a kingdom that will never fall!

5. Union.  Mary was perplexed, but the angel soon explained that she, a human, would be overshadowed by the power of the Most High and so her child would be both human and divine.  She would give birth to the Son of God (Luke 1:35).  This is the middle link in a glorious chain – first the union of God with God (the Trinity), then the union of God with man in man (the Incarnation), which makes possible our glorious union of humanity with God in Christ (Union with Christ).  Let’s pray that we would live in the light of these three great unions – the blazing light of Christian truth in a dark and broken world.

6. Recognition.  Mary celebrated the wonder of God’s mercy toward her and to all who fear him in her famous song.  He who is mighty “had looked on the humble estate of his servant” (Luke 1:48). God is so high, and yet he recognises the realities of the smallest and weakest of his people.  Let’s pray in light of Mary’s celebration, because God recognizes the vulnerability we feel and the humility of our circumstances.

7. Remembrance.  Mary finished her song celebrating the big picture.  Long ago, God made promises to Abraham and the Patriarchs.  Thousands of years later, God kept his promises (Luke 1:55).  Our God is a God who makes promises and keeps them.  Let’s pray with confidence that God has a plan that he is working out in our world, and nothing will stop him from keeping his promises.

8. Redemption.  After John was born, Zechariah emerged from months of enforced silence to celebrate this great moment in salvation history.  He launched his song of celebration with “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people…” (Luke 1:68) The invasion of God the Son into this world to set up his kingdom would involve a daring rescue mission.  He had to redeem his people, enslaved and trapped in this sin-stained dungeon of death.  Let’s praise God every day for the way he redeemed us, buying us back from death and bringing us to himself!

9. Illumination.  Zechariah’s final words in his great prophecy speak of the tender mercy of God that gives sunrise from on high – in this dark world, we so need the light that Christmas brought into our world.  We sit in darkness and the shadow of death, but the Incarnation gives light (Luke 1:78-79).  The world feels darker in 2020 than it has for many years, but let us pray that the light brought by the Incarnation would shine in our hearts and through us into a dark and dying world.

10. Peace.  As we step into the familiar territory of chapter 2, we find those shepherds sitting in the dark field as the angels burst into song praising God, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  So much has changed this year.  But nothing has changed.  God is worthy of all glory, and the peace that broke into our world back then is still just as real today, as we continue to live in anticipation of the total peace that only Jesus’ reign on Earth will bring.  Let’s pray that our hearts would be peaceful this winter, and that God would be glorified by more and more people coming to know what it means to be those with whom he is pleased!

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Pleased to Dwell introduces the glorious biblical truth of the Incarnation.

One of the challenges we face when preaching epistles is the challenge of coherence. We need to hold it together!

In a narrative, it is typically clear that all the details are working together to tell a story (though not always, it seems, for some preachers!) Sometimes an apparently disconnected detail can actually help us to understand more clearly what is going on in the story, if we will only take the time to wrestle with the detail.

But in epistles, we sometimes find a dense set of theologically rich and eminently preachable truths. And the temptation will be to select and present some of them. But here is the problem: authors of biblical epistles didn’t compile random lists of theological phrases. They wrote coherently. Their content flowed logically and sequentially.

When you are preaching a paragraph in an epistle, be sure to invest study in the flow of thought and not just the theological meaning of details. How do the sentences flow from one to the next? How does this paragraph fit with what has come before and where the author goes next?

Biblical authors were not drunk. Plus, the inspiration of God’s Spirit also reinforces our expectation of coherence. They were not random. It does make sense. It is our job to make sense of it, and then, in our preaching, to make sense of it for others. Our job is more than that, but it should not be less than that. When you have a text to preach – hold it together!

I thought The Little Him Book wasn’t going to be available in the US until early 2021. I was wrong! It is now shipping – perfect timing for Christmas.

Let me also introduce you to 10ofthose.com – this is a company that I have loved watching grow in the UK and am really pleased it is now also in the USA. Their vision is to make great Christian materials available at a low cost so that instead of just buying a single copy (which you can, of course), you might be motivated to buy “10 of those” to give away to friends (various multi-buy discounts available).

This link takes you to my affiliate page and anything you buy on your visit to the site will drop a few cents toward our support. Thank you!

So please do get hold of The Little Him Book and let me know what you think. It is a little book (perfect stocking stuffer), and it is all about Him (perfect gift for family members, for your small group, for church staff as a thank you, for your pastors, etc.) Reviews on 10ofthose, Goodreads, Amazon, etc. are all greatly appreciated (as are direct recommendations to friends, on facebook, twitter, etc.)

If you are in North America – https://www.10ofthose.com/us/affiliates/mead

If you are in UK / Europe – https://www.10ofthose.com/uk/partners/pouredout

A few years ago I wrote Pleased to Dwell, an easy-to-read introduction to the glorious subject of the Incarnation. As we are coming to the end of November, I thought I might mention it in case you weren’t aware of it. It is written in 24 short chapters that walk through the whole Bible and make a great companion to the advent season. (Also, if you are preaching this Christmas, there are many sermon ideas implicit throughout the book!)

A friend from seminary shared the book on Facebook and added this comment, “May I recommend this for your reading this season? Not only gives an overview of the entire Bible, but especially gives fresh insight into Jesus coming to earth.”

Another friend, from my church, made this comment too, “I really enjoy this book and read it most years in December.”

Anyway, I thought I’d mention it just in case it might be helpful to some. It should be easy to find a copy online, and if you are in UK/Europe, you might like to grab a copy from 10ofthose.com.

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PS With all the talk of cancelling Christmas2020, here is a new video from Cor Deo in which I take a quick look at 10 Incarnation realities that no crazy year can cancel!

It is so healthy to have good devotional routines.  Maybe you have benefited from the same morning routine for years … get the coffee, read your Bible, spend time in prayer, etc.  If you love the rhythm and wouldn’t change any of it, then please ignore this post with my blessing!

Sometimes it can be healthy to freshen things up, and that doesn’t have to wait until the 1st of January.  Why? Because it doesn’t have to be an annual commitment.  What matters is your personal walk with Jesus, not your success or failure in maintaining a specific habit.  If an element of your rhythm grows stale, talk to him about it and make adjustments.

Here are some ideas that might be helpful:

1. Separate devotional Bible reading from devotional Bible study.  You will benefit from both, but combining them is not always the easiest.  We can end up going too slow for reading, but too fast for meaningful study.  Maybe the reading part can pick up the pace, while the study part allows you to dwell in a book you are motivated to study for a while. (And once the grass looks greener for feeding in another Bible book, move over and study in that pasture for a while.)

2. Dust off the memory muscle.  It wasn’t too long ago that we used to store phone numbers in our own memory, but the combination of internet and smart phone has effectively retired the memory muscle for too many of us.  Why not pick a chapter, or even a book of the Bible, and enjoy committing it to memory (it allows for meditation throughout the day, as well as spillover benefits for preaching, etc.)  One thing I have found helpful is to write out and then review using just the first letter of each word.  (Eg. John 3:16: F G s l t w t h g h o a o S, etc.)

3. Print and mark a complete Bible book, or section.  We aren’t restricted to holding a bound Bible and wrestling with whether to underline in it or not.  It is not unrealistic to copy and paste the text of a Bible book, adjust format to give us the space we need, and then mark it up in great detail – get to know every detail, every repeated term, identify the flow of thought, note every significant detail observed or noted from commentaries, etc.  I remember visiting a friend’s house who had the entire Gospel of John, marked up, and lining the wall of his bathroom!

4. Foreign language Bible reading for biblical fluency.  Maybe you have studied an original language, but only use it at the sporadic puzzle solving level (where you look at the text and hunt for subject, verb, and then create an English language rough interlinear…and then don’t use the language again for a while).  Or maybe you haven’t studied Hebrew or Greek, but can get by on holiday in French or Spanish.  Perhaps you would enjoy taking a few minutes each day with the Bible in that language (French, or Greek, or whatever).  Make it your goal to be able to read a section fluently – familiar with the vocabulary and grammar enough to read it through without auto-translating into English in your head.  Instead pondering the meaning, enjoying the rhythm of the language, and relating to God rather than wrestling with a lexicon.  This would take a little bit of work, but it can be devotional and relational in a surprisingly short amount of time.

This list could go on forever, we could mention journaling, or prayer walks, or adding in reading with a helpful Puritan, or finding a companion for regular devotional teaming up, etc., but those are my top four refreshment suggestions today.  What have you found genuinely helpful to help make the morning read the Bible and pray time more meaningful relationally?

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Here in the UK we are about to head into another national lockdown.  When we entered the first one back in March I decided to launch a series of short videos – Pursuing God’s Heart.  They were simple Bible reading highlights to offer encouragement to my church and any others that wanted to join in.

Now as we enter Lockdown #2 I am excited to launch a new series of resources.  I am calling it Pursuing God’s Heart Yourself.  These short videos demonstrate how seven portable principles can turn our Bible reading into Bible feasting.

We are working our way through these seven principles in church at the moment, using the book of Jonah.  Click here to see a brief introduction to the seven principles:

And today I started the first series of videos – inviting you into the little book of Ruth over the coming days.  I don’t cover every verse in Ruth, I’d encourage you to do that yourself.  My goal is to cover all the principles and show how they will help you feast in the book of Ruth.  Click here for the first video in the series. (Apologies that I can’t get the image to link for some reason!)

If this series might be helpful to others, please do share the videos and encourage others to take advantage of this new tool.  The hope is to go through the principles several times.  We will start with Ruth, then we will go through them again in a different Bible book.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could emerge from the next few weeks or months having feasted on God’s Word, loving Him more and living for Him more fruitfully in this needy world?

(For part 2, click here … for part 3, click here … for part 4, click here)

Like so many other passages in the Bible, the book of Jonah gives us a sobering reflection of our own hearts, and a thrilling glimpse into God’s heart.  Consider the first chapter of Jonah – the story of the storm.  It begins with Jonah receiving three instructions from God: get up, get going, and get preaching to Nineveh.  To actually go to Nineveh and preach for God there was a unique and even bizarre commission.  Why would God ask him to do that?  Unlike some prophets who hesitated or questioned God’s call, Jonah just flat-out rebelled against it.  He got up, and got going in the opposite direction.  Maybe he felt that he could put himself out of the reach of God’s calling, or maybe he felt that Tarshish was a better alternative to this horrifying calling to Nineveh.  But what Jonah discovered is that going away from God is always going in the direction of disaster and death.

The rest of the chapter tells the story of the storm.  God doesn’t just let Jonah run away.  There is something about God’s relentlessness that should cause us to pause and praise God for his determination in the pursuit of his people. 

God hurled a storm at the ship, and in response the sailors frantically hurled their cargo overboard while crying out to their own gods.  Maybe it was in that cargo-dispatching exercise that Jonah came to light, sleeping in the hold of the ship.  His sleep is described as a deep sleep, but that does not mean it was not tormented.  I can imagine him hearing God’s call in his sleep: “Rise…go…call out!”  Next thing he knows, the ship’s captain is shaking him awake with almost identical words: “Rise…call out!” 

The rest of the narrative is wrapped around an exchange between the sailors and Jonah.  They cast lots and find out that Jonah is the key to understanding this terrifying storm. 

Who are you, Jonah?  So they ask him about his God, and then they ask what they should do for that God.  They actually start by asking a series of questions about his occupation, his hometown, his nation and his ethnic heritage.  It sounds like an invitation to give a self-introduction, but really they are asking about the spheres where Jonah would be expected to have gods.  These sailors were pagans, and they wanted to know which of Jonah’s gods was upset with them – was it the god of his occupation, or the local god of his hometown, etc.  But Jonah finally speaks and says, “I fear the LORD.”  He goes on to explain that the LORD is the God of heaven, the creator of the sea and dry land.  This is no local deity in the playground of the pantheon of local deities.  This is the ultimate cosmic God over all. 

Did Jonah fear the LORD?  He was running away from the LORD’s calling.  He was sleeping when everyone else was trying to save the ship.  He was silent as they were trying to discern the source of the terrifying storm.  And even after this moment of revealing his God’s identity, Jonah doesn’t ask for a moment to repent of his sin – he merely instructs the sailors to throw him overboard.  He is more committed to dying than he is to honouring the LORD’s calling on his life.

Jonah feared the LORD with his lips, but apparently not with his life.  He cuts a deeply forlorn figure in this chapter.

Who are you, sailors?  The writer wants us to contrast Jonah with the pagan sailors on the ship.  Jonah used the word “fear” to describe his relationship with God, but the writer tells us multiple times that these sailors were afraid too.  They feared the storm (v5) and so cried out to their individual gods.  Perhaps their hurling of cargo included a sense of making sacrifices to their gods – but nevertheless, their gods remained mute and unresponsive.  Then, when they hear about the LORD from Jonah, they are exceedingly afraid.  These hardened pagan sailors show a startling “godliness” when Jonah tells them to throw him overboard.  First, they try to dig through the waves and row to dry land, but they are unsuccessful.  Then they demonstrate their fear of the LORD as they cry out to him (something Jonah never does in this chapter). Then, after they throw Jonah overboard, we are told they feared the LORD exceedingly (v16) and offered sacrifices and vows to him.

Did these pagans become fearers of the LORD?  In some way, they clearly did.  They seem to be responsive to what they learn about him.  They try not to throw Jonah into the sea, perhaps recognizing that this God could genuinely judge them for it, and they cry out to the LORD when they finally feel forced to into it (notice the use of God’s name!)  And then, once the instant calm descends, instead of laughing off the whole situation, they are then deliberate about making a sacrifice to this God, and they make vows for the future too!

These sailors went from fearing a storm to fearing the LORD with their lives, as well as their lips.  They offer a stark contrast to Jonah in this chapter.

Who are you, God?  Perhaps this storm-at- sea narrative touches a nerve for some of us.  First, even for the hardened pagan sailors who did not know God at all, there was hope.  They were introduced to him and responded beautifully.  There is nobody in our continent today that is so hardened and so distant from God that they cannot come to know him.  God could have simply sunk the ship, but he spared these sailors.  As soon as Jonah made a splash, the sea ceased from its raging.  The mercy of God.

Second, and perhaps more relevantly for many of us: even if we are running from God in some way; even if we should know better; even if our claim to fear the LORD is clear from our lips, but hard to discern in our lives – there is hope.  Jonah knew God and responded terribly.  Perhaps you feel that, of all God’s people in this continent, you are the most like Jonah at this time.  You should know better, but you’ve drifted too far.  God could simply give up on us, but he doesn’t.  Jonah hit the water anticipating that when he gasped for his next breath, he would fill his lungs with seawater and perish.  But God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah.  The mercy of God.

At the end of Jonah chapter 1 there are many questions left unanswered.  Why was Jonah so determined not to go to Nineveh and preach God’s message?  Why was he so willing to die rather than preach?  And so on.  But one thing is clear, and this one thing is good for us to ponder for our continent and for ourselves: our God is fiercely merciful.  He is determined.  He does not give up.  He will come after us.

Praise God for his fierce mercy.  Praise God for the hope that his Word can stir in us.

Every time we come to a biblical passage to preach it we should find ourselves going deeper. We don’t want to stay at a previous level of familiarity or response, because that is ultimately a recipe for growing stale ourselves. Here are five ways to probe a familiar passage for greater depth:

1. Mark up a clean print out of the passage. I find it helpful to print out the passage I am looking at. If my Bible is written in, then old markings can trigger old message outlines, or focal points of the passage. Even if the Bible is unmarked, the layout on the page can sometimes obscure details because of line breaks, columns, etc. So print out the text and analyse what you see. What words are repeated? What structure or flow of thought becomes evident? I was looking at Jonah 1 for the last couple of Sunday sermons. The use of the word “hurl” and “fear” both stood out, along with the centrality of the conversation between Jonah and the sailors.

2. Take the opportunity to probe the original language. If you are able to pick up the original text and read it, great, do it. If not, then a more technical commentary can help us delve to new levels of insight in a familiar text. My Hebrew is not good enough to just read the text straight, but a commentary helped me spot the intriguing use of the word for “dig” being used instead of the more natural word for “row” in Jonah 1. This more vivid term underlined the difficulty the sailors faced in rowing to shore, but also perhaps prefigured something of Jonah’s burial at sea. I might not make a big deal of that when I preach, but I want to at least notice it for myself.

3. Approach the passage from some different perspectives. You might ponder the passage from the perspective of different characters within the story (i.e. look at Jonah 1 through the eyes of the pagan sailors, or through God’s eyes, instead of just the more familiar Jonah perspective.) Or you could look at the passage using a couple of commentaries that aren’t your usual go-to resources from people you always agree with. You could even engage a passage with a couple of friends who would have their own unique perspectives.

4. Dig into the cultural background for new insight. We must never forget that we come to a Bible passage as an outsider. We may be familiar with the content, but we are not native in the historical context. A bit of digging can help us to gain greater insight into all that is being assumed or hinted at in the passage. Again, in Jonah 1, when the sailors asked Jonah where he was from, what was his occupation, what people did he belong to, etc., that sounds like an invitation to give a brief personal introduction. Actually, in that culture those questions would all be pointing in the same direction … which of your various gods have you offended? Is it your hometown god, or is it your career idol?

5. Prayerfully walk through the passage in light of your current circumstances. When we engage with a Bible text, there is always more to see in the text itself. But there is also the different eyes with which you see it. The truth doesn’t change. But your circumstances and experiences do. When we recently preached through Acts, we found the 2020 Covid-19 context gave us a fresh perspective for much of what was already so familiar. I am sure that Jonah will be the same this time through – same book, more to notice, and a different world in which to preach it!

What other ways do you find to go deeper when you come back to a familiar passage?