You better watch out/ You better not cry/ Better not pout/ I’m telling you why/ Santa Claus is coming to town

He’s making a list/ And checking it twice;/ Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice/ Santa Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you’re sleeping/ He knows when you’re awake/ He knows if you’ve been bad or good/ So be good for goodness sake!

O! You better watch out!/ You better not cry/ Better not pout/ I’m telling you why/ Santa Claus is coming to town/ Santa Claus is coming to town

If we’re going to be honest with ourselves, this is an incredibly depressing song!  How much better to know that instead of Santa, Jesus has come to town!

The song starts out by telling us “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout.”  How many of us can say that we never have a bad day where we have complained about our circumstances, or the people that we have come in contact with?  Perhaps you are in a difficult financial situation, or are in/have recently been in a bad relationship?  Unlike Santa, Jesus doesn’t expect us to be emotional zombies.  He knows that we are going to weep and cry, and yes, sometimes even pout!  Instead of telling us not to do that, he invites us to come to him with our difficulties.  In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus gives the invitation:  ”

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”(NIV)

In the second stanza, we are warned that Santa is “making a list” and he’ll use it to see if we’ve been “naughty or nice”.  Let’s be honest here!  We can probably all think of a dozen times in the last week alone when we’ve said or done something hurtful to somebody else.  Even if we’ve felt bad about it, the damage is already done.  If we’re being judged by Santa to see if we’ve been “naughty or nice”, I’m afraid we’re all doomed!  Yes, the Bible speaks of a “list” of sorts…it’s called the “Book of Life”.  If your name is in it, you will be saved.  Unlike Santa’s list, however, getting your name on this list doesn’t depend on your works…

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  He [Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:9-13, NIV)

The first part of stanza 3 warns us that Santa sees us when we’re sleeping and knows when we’re awake.  In the song, it almost seems to come across as a threat.  According to Psalm 121, God is watching us too!  But when I read this psalm, there is nothing threatening about it:

 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore. (NIV)

The second half of the 3rd stanza tells us that Santa “knows if we’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.”  Again, we face a dilemma – how many of us are truly “good”?  How good do we have to be to make the “nice list”?  According to the Bible, it is impossible, on our own, to appear “good” before God.  Romans 3:10 tells us: “…There is no one righteous, not even one.” and again in Romans 3:23 we hear “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Fortunately, though, that’s not the end of it!  No, we can’t on our own appear good before God, but…

and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—  he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:24-26)

Basically, this passage is telling us that even though we can’t possibly be good before God on our own, God has provided a way for us to be good:  He sent Jesus to be a sacrifice for us…and that sacrifice washes clean those who put their faith in Jesus!

So even though we all “cry and pout”; even though we’ve all been bad and can’t get ourselves on the nice list through our own effort, we can be thankful that Santa is not the way of Salvation – we can rejoice instead that Jesus Christ has come to town.  Hallelujah!  Jesus Christ has come to town!!

A little while later, after sitting down in the service and singing some worship songs, our pastor started to give his message.  As he spoke, I started to reflect on our previous conversation

The Scripture passage for his message came from Luke 2:18-20.  From this passage, he gave us four main points:

1. Jesus is Good News:  ”…And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news’…” (verse 10)
2. Jesus is Great Joy: “…’of great joy that will be for all the people.’…” (verse 10)
3. Jesus is the Savior: “…’For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,’…” (verse 11)
4. Jesus is Lord: “…’who is Christ the Lord.’…” (verse 12)

(podcast of his message available here)

As I listened to his message and reflected on our earlier conversation, I couldn’t help but wonder:  ”Did I miss the point?” Somewhere around 2000 years ago, God became man and dwelt among us.  Without this intervention in human history, we would be cut off from fellowship with God.  We would stand condemned in our sins.  We would be without hope of salvation.  When Jesus came, that all changed.  If we allow him to be our Lord and Savior, then his birth is good news indeed!  What could cause us greater joy than to know that we are not separated from God?  That we have hope?

Here I had been saying that I was ready for Christmas because I was almost done buying gifts??  This morning I was reminded that we might have bought every gift imaginable, and we could still be utterly unprepared for Christmas.  Christmas is about a gift…but not the gifts that we give or get.  It is about the gift of Jesus.  It is about being his followers and doing his will.

Revisiting that conversation, I have to ask myself again:  ”Am I truly ready for Christmas?”

On the other hand, I have some young boys who love snow.  To them, it is snowmen, snowball fights, sledding, and everything else that is fun!

I have to admit, though, that even though I’m not a big fan of the stuff, it is pretty!  Perhaps the best thing about snow is the instant transformation that it gives to the world.  It doesn’t matter how messy or dirty a yard is, a few centimeters of snow makes it appear clean, fresh and new.

This clean and fresh look is possibly why The Psalmist used the imagery of snow in Psalm 51

	For I know my transgressions,
		and my sin is ever before me.
	Against you, you only, have I sinned
		and done what is evil in your sight,
	so that you may be justified in your words
		and blameless in your judgment.
	Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
		and in sin did my mother conceive me.
	Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
		and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
	Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
		wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
(Psalm 51:3-7 ESV)

We’ve all messed up. We’re all “dirty” from the things that we’ve done. We’re all in need of cleaning. I’m thankful that we have a God who is willing to wash away our sins! Unlike a blanket of snow, God does not merely cover up our sins…he gets rid of them completely. Like the appearance of fresh-fallen snow, we are made clean when we allow Christ to cleanse us.

Imagine a messy yard filled with rusting old cars, huge weeds, animal droppings and muck.  In our sinful condition, that’s about how “clean” we appear.  But now imagine that yard the day after a huge snow-fall.  The sun shines down on fresh white, sparkling snow.  The visual assault of the mess of that yard is completely covered by the new snow.  Now imagine that when the snow melts, that yard no longer has the rusted old cars…the muck and weeds and all other un-cleaness are gone, and in their place is a luscious green lawn with beds of sweet smelling flowers in neat tidy beds.

When God washes us clean, we are clean!  The filth of our old lives is taken away completely.  I’m not saying that we become perfect…even the best Christian still sins…but we are forgiven.  Basically, our guilt is taken away instead of constantly accumulating.

This is one reason that, even though I’m not a big fan of snow, I still see some benefit…it reminds us of God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  The old is gone…we are made fresh and new!

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.  And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.  Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”  – Gen.8:20-22, (all Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV)

The flood is officially over.  Noah, his family, and all of the animals have left the ark.  So Noah worshipped in the way that he knew:  he made sacrifices to God.  We read that “Noah…took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird” for his sacrifices.  (Remember, that Noah did not merely take 2 of each kind of animal, but he took 7 pair of each clean animal [Gen.7:2], so there would have been no forced extinction by this action.)

It’s obvious that God was pleased with the sacrifices, because God said in his heart that he would never again destroy all life as long as the earth would last.  But at the same time, God recognized that sin was not destroyed with the flood. “…for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”  Not exactly a glowing letter of recommendation for our species – but unfortunately all too true.  I think that if we are honest with ourselves, there is nobody who can say that their good deeds are entirely without selfish motive.  Whether because we hope to gain something, or even if just to achieve recognition, even the good that we do is tainted.  Isaiah 64:6 puts it this way:  “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”

Yes, we are all sinful, yet God loves us enough that he promised not to destroy all life again…at least not until the end of the world.  I suppose that this might be seen as a partial redemption of humanity after the fall – a more complete redemption would come later through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – but for now, the salvation of Noah and company, and the promise not to destroy all life might be seen as a sign that God was not about to abandon his creation – God had something bigger and better in store.

One verse that I find particularly interesting in this passage is verse 22:  “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease”.  I’m not a big supporter of the theory of Global Warming.  I suspect that given enough time, scientists will discover that there are periods of global warming, followed by periods of global cooling.  I believe that this verse as much as promises that our world will not be destroyed by global warming.  Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that we should go out and pollute the world without a care – we were called to be stewards of God’s creation.  I am saying that we don’t have to panic about every report that the average temperature of the world is going up, because God is STILL in control!

For any of you who have been waiting for me to get back to blogging through Genesis, your patience is finally being rewarded!  My last post on Genesis was posted back in August of 2010.  Yes, 9 months have passed since we left Noah in the ark, floating on a flooded earth.  Thankfully God did not forget about Noah for as long as I did!

In fact, the very first verse of Genesis 8 tells us that we have a God who does not forget: 

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. (Gen.8:1 – all Scripture quotations taken from the English Standard Version)

After 40 days of rain…and not just a light drizzle, but I suspect torrential downpour, the rain finally stopped.  It hadn’t been just rain though either:  Genesis 7:11 says that ”the fountains of the great deep burst forth”.  Needless to say, there was a lot of water – enough to cover all the hills and mountains.  Anybody who was not in the ark had now perished.  With this much water covering the earth, it took about a year before the water subsided enough for Noah and all of his passengers to disembark (the flood began in the 2nd month of Noah’s 600th year (Gen.7:11), and those on the ark finally disembarked in the 2nd month of Noah’s 601st year (Gen.8:14-19)

Imagine, for a moment, that you had spent the last year in a boat, surrounded by every kind of animal imaginable…and finally, your boat strikes something solid and comes to rest.  You haven’t seen land in so long that you’ve almost forgotten what it looks like.  I imagine that Noah and his family (not to mention the animals) were getting pretty anxious to set their feet on solid ground again!  No wonder Noah was so anxious to send out birds to “scout out” whether or not there was any dry ground yet!  It took a while, but finally…

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out.  Then God said to Noah, “Go out from the ark…” (Gen.8:14-16a)

…they got the go-ahead to exit the ark.  What a parade that must have been!!  At long last, solid ground.  It had been a while, but once again, God proved Himself to be faithful!

But how does this view line up with Scripture?  Romans 3:23 tells us, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (all scripture quotations taken from the ESV translation).  Romans 3:10-12, in quoting the Psalms, says, “…as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands;  no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’”  A pebble of sin outweighs a boulder of righteousness!

I think, based on the above verses, that we can take the scale illustration and throw it out the window.

Speaking of windows…perhaps a window would be a better illustration!  Imagine, for a minute, that you are planning on buying a window to put in your house.  You go to the hardware store and go to the window section.  The first window you see is absolutely shattered…just pea sized pieces of glass on the floor.  “Too broken” you say.  The next pane isn’t shattered, but it has a spider-web crack, covering about 75% of the glass.  Once again, you pass this window by.  The third window you see is still cracked, but after careful examination, you determine that only 49% of the window is affected.  Would you buy this window?  Of course not!  Despite the fact that it’s “more good than bad”, it’s still rendered unacceptable.  To take my illustration further, would you buy a window that is flawless…except for one small chip?  Probably not!  When we look for a window, we look for perfection.  Nothing else will do.  Even the smallest of cracks or chips simply will not do.

We are like the window.  “…For all have sinned…”.  One little stone-chip.  “…and fall short of the glory of God…”.  We are damaged goods.  Imperfect, and fit for the garbage bin.  But thanks to the grace of God, He has provided a solution.  One of the best known passages of Scripture is John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  You might say that Jesus takes the broken windows of our lives and fixes them.  He doesn’t just patch the window…He completely removes the cracks – even the shattered window is not beyond His ability to repair!  Psalm 103:11-12 says:  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

We need to take a step of faith and ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins.  We cannot save ourselves any more than a window can fix itself.  But if we put ourselves into the hands of Jesus Christ, he can and will make us right before God!

Without doubt, bin Laden was a wicked man who did much evil.  I would even agree that the US military had the right to use deadly force to stop this man…which is exactly what they did. 

So before I explain what’s bothering me, I have to clarify a few things.  I’m not bothered that bin Laden is dead.  I’m even somewhat relieved (although I’m also realistic enough to realize that there are most likely others who will gladly step into his shoes, and I doubt that terrorism against “the west” died with bin Laden).  I’m not bothered with how bin Laden met his death.  He lived by the sword, and he died by the sword.

I am bothered, however, by the video that I saw on the news last night.  This video portrayed Americans celebrating in the street that bin Laden is dead.  So why does this bother me so much?  Watch this video now.  My question is this…how is it any better for Americans to celebrate the death of the wicked bin Laden any better than Muslims celebrating the deaths of “the wicked infidel”?  Breath a sigh of relief?  Absolutely!  Celebrate death?  CELEBRATE???  I have to say that the idea that we celebrate death makes us little better than those that we fight against.

Perhaps I’m not bothered so much by the fact that Americans are celebrating a man’s death, but that I realize in myself that I’m not entirely innocent myself.  Being a Canadian, I suppose that I can take a step back from the 9/11 attacks and bin Laden’s part in them (although I am still horrified by this senseless act of terrorism), but when I think of other historical events, I can think of a few other wicked people whom I suspect I would have celebrated the deaths of had I been alive at the time…Hitler for example…

I’m bothered by this celebration of death that I see in others…but even more so that I see in myself.  Christ said in Matthew 5:44  “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”  In fact, in light of the fact that the people of Jerusalem, to large extent, rejected Christ.  He could have considered them his enemies, yet when Christ prophesied Jerusalem’s destruction (Lk 19:41-44), he did not celebrate, but he wept over the city.

So my question is this:  should we not be weeping over bin Laden’s lost soul, rather than celebrate his death?

The model of WWJD does break down, however.  We are not Jesus, and so we can’t always expect that WWJD will apply to our own lives.

For one thing, God calls us all to do different things.  Jesus was not called to do exactly the same things as you or me

Secondly, we have some limitations that Jesus did not suffer from.  Consider for a moment that you’ve just said something to your spouse or co-worker, or friend.  It’s something that you instantly regret.  So you ask yourself, “I’ve screwed up, so what would Jesus do now?”  Think about it honestly for a moment.  Jesus never said anything to anybody that he regretted afterwards.  So what would Jesus do?  He wouldn’t find himself in that situation.  So what now?  Is there a correct way to respond to your screw-up?  Of course there is!  You could apologize.

Thirdly, Jesus had some abilities that we simply do not have.  What would you do, for example, if you found yourself in front of a large and hungry crowd…and all you have is enough food for your own lunch?  Ask yourself “what would Jesus do?”  Just take a look at Matthew chapter 14 to find the answer to that one.  When that situation came up in his ministry, he took the little food available to him, performed a miracle, and fed the entire crowd – with leftovers to spare.  Now I’m not saying that miracles can’t happen (in fact, I believe they do happen), but often God chooses to work through more “natural” methods.  God has never given me the ability to do miraculous feedings, so what should I do in this scenario?  Perhaps “triage” the situation and see who, for medical reasons, needs to eat the most urgently…or maybe pull out a cell-phone and order pizza.

I guess what I’m trying to say through all this is that sometimes we can’t do what Jesus would do, and sometimes often we find ourselves in a situation that Jesus would have never gotten himself into in the first place, so it’s moot to ask what Jesus would have done.

I don’t have a huge problem with the concept of WWJD - the process of becoming more Christ-like is definitely a good pursuit – one that every Christian should be striving for.  Perhaps the letters should be WWJHMD (What Would Jesus Have Me Do?)

The semantics of WWJD are only a minor concern of mine though.  My biggest problem is the crass commercialization of WWJD (amongst other things) in the Christian marketplace.  I heard a story once of a man who walked into a Christian bookstore and saw a WWJD hat.  He asked “What does WWJD mean?”  When he was told the answer, he looked at the price-tag and said, “I don’t think Jesus would pay $21.99 for a ball-cap.”  A friend of mine wrote an article about this very concept.  Check out the shot-glass photo on his article!  Striving to live our lives as Christ would want us to is not about knickknacks and commercialism.  It’s about going out and doing what we should and not-doing what we should not.

WWJD?  Maybe not exactly…but WWJD merchandising?  I don’t think so!

This past year has had some wonderful moments – like the birth of our 3rd child.  It has had some horrible moments - like the evening we came home to discover that our house had been broken into, and much of our worldly possessions had been carted off by strangers.  But through it all, I have to say one thing:  “God is good!”

I know that some of you would say that this past year has been one of the best that you’ve ever lived through.  Some of you might think that 2010 was about as bad of a year as you could get.  No matter where you fit on the spectrum, God is still good.  He is there in the good times and the bad.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, ESV)

I’m going to keep this short – it’s after midnight, so I should probably head to bed shortly…but what I really want to say through this posting is “God is Good” – he was good in 2010, and God will continue to be good in 2011.  God bless, and keep looking to Him!

Without further ado…

[6 ] Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. [7 ] And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. [8 ] Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, [9 ] two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. [10 ] And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
 [11 ] In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. [12 ] And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. [13 ] On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, [14 ] they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. [15 ] They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. [16 ] And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.
 [17 ] The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. [18 ] The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. [19 ] And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. [20 ] The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. [21 ] And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. [22 ] Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. [23 ] He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. [24 ] And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.
(Genesis 7:6-24, ESV)

At 600 years of age, Noah boarded the ark with his wife, his century old sons, and their wives – not to mention all the animals!  This – the world’s first recorded seniours’ cruise came complete with a floating zoo!

Far from a pleasure cruise, however, this ark was literally a life-boat for her occupants.  The 8 human inhabitants were not merely passengers – they were crew and caretakers of the countless animals on board.

Now there is some debate as to the extent of the flood.  Some believe that the flood was global in nature, whereas others believe that the writer of this account was referring to a localized…or at the most, a flood that covered only the author’s known world.

Let’s assume, for a minute, that verse 19 is referring to only the writer’s known world.  We are immediately presented with at least 2 problems

Problem One:  God would have known about the greater extent of the earth, so he would not have needed Noah to save any animals – as the animals in other parts of the earth would have allowed for the continuation of each species.

Perhaps the only animals to board the ark were strictly local fauna?  We still face the Second Problem:   If the account is accurate merely to the extent of the writer’s knowledge, then the highest mountains of the known world were still covered to a depth of 15 cubits (approx. 23 feet) of water.  Now the nature of water is that it always seeks the lowest point.  The only way that water could achieve a height of 15 cubits above the hilltops would be if the area in question were completely surround by an unbroken ring of higher hill that would serve as a dam.  I find this scenario to be highly unlikely.  The other option remaining is that the flood truly was global in nature.

Since I belive in the accuracy of the Bible, I have to conclude that the flood did, indeed, cover the entire globe.  As verse 23 tells us, the only survivors of this deluge were the occupants of the ark

Once again, we see how important Noah’s obedience to God was.  Had Noah chosen to ignore God’s instructions, this might be an earth completely devoid of any non-aquatic life!  Of course, most of our choices about obeying or ignoring our creator are not going to result in the mass annihilation of humanity, but choices of dis-obedience do have consequences…and choosing to follow God’s instructions to us is not without reward!