Brian Castelli – With His Heart

Yeah. I agree. Weird title.

Two notions collided in my head this morning. I was listening to a sermon titled, “The Whole Christmas Story.” One of the strong points that was made was that if we don’t understand the bigger picture – the back story – it’s hard to understand the significance of Jesus’ birth.

Jason, one of our Elders, asked us to consider a contrast. We were invited to compare the joy we feel when we hear the news that a couple we barely know has delivered a child with the incredible joy we feel when we hear the news that a couple we know well, a couple that has struggled with miscarriages, pain, and suffering, has delivered a child. Because we know the back story of the couple we know well, there is greater significance and greater joy when we hear the news.

When we read the accounts of Jesus’ birth in the New Testament, we might feel joy akin to the joy we feel when we hear the news of that couple we barely know. We know it’s a good thing – birth, that is. We might also recall that Jesus is headed for the cross, therefore we know that it’s important. But without knowing the back story we might miss the incredible joy that comes from understanding the significance of that birth.

The reality is that Jesus’ birth was a huge deal. It was a birth long awaited and hoped for by the Jews. As we read through the Old Testament, we find an amazing story of a people that kept going their own way and God who wouldn’t abandon them. The Jews were waiting and hoping for a Messiah who would accomplish that which they were incapable of doing for themselves. In the dark days prior to Jesus’ birth even the prophets had been silent for some 400 years. It was as if God had turned his back on the nation. I’m told that the rabbis writing in those days wondered what God was doing. They worried that Israel had, at last, exceeded God’s patience.

But in the darkness there was hope. Jesus quietly burst onto the scene to begin a journey that would fulfill God’s promises of blessing to the Jews (Israel) and the Gentiles (the rest of us).

How does this fit with the Matrix?

In the movie, the people living in the Matrix don’t know the back story. What they see is a facade, a mere shadow of the reality behind it. I believe that many of us – Christians and non-Christians alike – look at the Christmas story through Matrix-colored glasses. It’s a nice story. It makes us feel good because it means that God loves us. But we don’t understand the back story. We don’t understand the significance.

In The Matrix, when people finally know the back story, their lives are radically changed. It’s not possible to go back to business as usual. This kind of radical change can be yours, too, when you know Jesus’ back story. Read the Old Testament and the gospels. I believe they will open your eyes to the bigger picture.

I think God is always lining up events to teach us lessons or remind us of things we’re neglecting. Most of the time, I miss them. I’m too blind or preoccupied to notice them. But every so often, my eyes are open just long enough to see the confluence of two or three things in my life that add up to a lesson or a reminder. This is what happened to me on Sunday.

I have been reading a book by John Piper. In it, he sites Romans 3:25. The Holman Christian Standard Bible states the verse this way:

God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the
sins previously committed.

Propitiation means to substitute as an atonement for or to accept wrath in one’s place. It’s all about the way Jesus took our sins upon himself and paid the price for them. In the book, Piper states that until a person comes to the point at which he or she understands their sinfulness, their need for God, Christ has nothing to offer them. This was stream #1.

Stream #2 was named April. As the service drew to a close at church on Sunday, April came forward at the invitation time to present herself for membership in the church. April stood there at the front, and the pastor talked about how April had gotten saved just a few days before. He talked about how she had finally come to realize her need, that there was an empty place in her heart that needed to be filled, and that Jesus was the one who could fill it for her. As the pastor talked, April nodded and cried tears of joy. It was a touching moment.

So the confluence of these two streams: I remember a day 20+ years ago when I cried, too. Like April, I had come to the point at which I recognized my need and invited Jesus to fill it. My life hasn’t been the same since. The gentle tug, the reminder this brought to me, is that I’ve taken Jesus for granted. I’ve been a Christian for so long that it’s easy for me to gloss over Jesus’ death and resurrection. Been there. Done that. Next subject. But God is telling we to wait a minute. Stop, rest, think. Maybe I need to be more like April. Maybe this is God’s way of gently reminding me that I need to appreciate Jesus again, that I need to take my praise of him up a notch.

Jesus died as my substitute. He died as your substitute, too. Amen.

I’ve been reading the book Humility: True Greatness by C. J. Mahaney. In chapter 5, Mahaney shares his personal strategy for purposefully, intentionally confronting his own arrogance (a.k.a. sinfulness). The first step in the strategy is, “Reflect on the Wonder of the Cross.” This simply means keeping in mind the great sacrifice Jesus Christ, the son of God, made on our behalf.

I have a picture in my mind of the moment a person comes to Jesus and becomes a Christian. It is a moment when the person is on their knees, figuratively, in front of the cross. There are tears streaming down their face as they admit that they can’t do it themselves, that there is no good in them, and that they need a savior. In humility, they shake their head in disbelief over the wonderful (and horrible!) thing that has been done for them.

Have you had such a moment?

Last weekend I attended the National Apologetics Conference in Charlotte, NC. There were many excellent speakers. Among them, Charles Colson, James Dobson, Josh McDowell, and Erwin Lutzer. I have written blog posts about at least three of these men in recent months.

I found the conference refreshing and inspiring. I was impressed by two of the younger speakers – Chad Miller and Sean McDowell. These two men have a real passion to help youth understand the firm foundation for their faith. As someone put it, it is one thing to know the truth; it is much more powerful to know why they are true.