He Knows if Your Belief is Bad or Good...

A little levity based on the real St. Nick!

For the back story try here...

    ,,,,,,or here....

            ....or here.

The consequences for badness were a little mre serious than coal in your stocking!

Meditations for Advent

A review of Why Christ Came: 31 Meditations on the Incarnation, by Joel Beeke & William Boekestein.

I've often thought that one of the big disadvantages of not being raised in a liturgical denomination is having no idea how to do Advent. Every year I hear and read so many complaints about the commercialization of Christmas, and the absence of Christ Himself from the celebration of His incarnation. But every year I also hear of the blessings received by those who have a planned devotional period leading up to Christmas through the celebration of Advent. Some do this because of participation in liturgical church traditions; some by personal choice. Every year I say to myself that I need to do something like this to get more out of the Christmas season, and every year Christmas just seems to sneak up on me and I miss out on a season of spiritual preparation. I want to do this. I need to do this.

When I saw Why Christ Came on the list of books available for review from Cross Focused Reviews, I immediately decided to read it with the hope that this might be a way to actually do spiritual preparation this year. The book consists of 31 individual meditations on the reasons for the incarnation of the Son of God. Chapter titles include "To Do the Will of the Father," "To Seek and Save the Lost," "To Reveal God's Love for Sinners,""To Bring Great Joy," "To Bind Up Broken Hearts," and "To Reveal God's Glory." Each chapter is full of Scripture references, drawn from the entirety of the Bible. I've enjoyed reading it, and plan to read a chapter every day beginning at Thanksgiving as my first attempt at keeping Advent. I also plan to spend time praying and being thankful each day for the Lord's coming to save me, to save us. I'm really looking forward to this!

On Amazon I gave the book four stars in recognition of the excellence of its subject matter and its usefulness for Advent/Christmas devotions. I did not give five stars only because it is not outstanding literature. However, for its purpose it does not need to be. This book is highly worth having and reading.

(I received a free copy of this book for review- See book review policy)

Some Saturday Links

Some links from my internet wanderings:

A World Without the King James Version

A Short History of Christian Rock Music

God is more interesting than stealth helicopters

Pauline Christology: Implications for Understanding Synoptic Christology

Ben Witherington Reviews the Movie "Thor"  
 (Nothing spiritual about it, but a good action flick for a comic and sci-fi buff like me!)

The Word Became Flesh : A Meditation on the Incarnation

The Word became flesh.

God became human,
the invisible became visible,
the untouchable became touchable,
eternal life experienced temporal death,
the transcendent one descended and drew near,
the unlimited became limited,
the infinite became finite,
the immutable became mutable,
the unbreakable became fragile,
spirit became matter,
eternity entered time,
the independent became dependent,
the almighty became weak,
the loved became the hated,
the exalted was humbled,
glory was subjected to shame,
fame turned into obscurity,
from inexpressible joy to tears of unimaginable grief,
from a throne to a cross,
from ruler to being ruled,
from power to weakness.
    - Sam Storms

Quoted from: The Word Became Flesh : Kingdom People

Is Jesus Your Homeboy?

Hat Tip: Parchment and Pen

Nicene Birthday

Saw a post at The Thinklings that the Nicene Creed was born this day in 325.

One of the oldest and most widely used confessions of the universal Christian faith, the Nicene Creed was formulated at a time when the heresy of Arianism threatened orthodox Christianity with the denial of Jesus' deity. Thus the strong Christology in the creed.

Thus, this is a good day to remember and rehearse these words:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets. And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. AMEN.

Congratulations Nicene Creed! 1,684 years old and doesn't look a day over 1,000!

Speaking of Christ

When we speak about wisdom, we are speaking of Christ. When we speak about virtue, we are speaking of Christ. When we speak about justice, we are speaking of Christ. When we speak about peace, we are speaking of Christ. When we speak about truth and life and redemption, we are speaking of Christ.

--St. Ambrose of Milan

Hat Tip: Elysa at Musings from Graceland

Forever the God-Man

From the New Testament until the present, Christian theologians have rightly celebrated that Jesus is forever the God-man. He is glorious not merely in assuming our human nature but in remaining our brother and continuing as the visible “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Without his continuing humanity, there would be no humanity in the Godhead to which we may be joined for all eternity

From a post by David Mathis at Desiring God

A Christological Pneumatology?

At a blog called "Read Better, Preach Better" I found these thought provoking words on Keeping in step with the Spirit - Christologically :

Do you think Christologically about the the Holy Spirit? Suppose we’re talking about our New Testament freedom, in the Spirit, to learn to live as God intends. What difference does Jesus make to that freedom (over and above the difference made by, e.g. Moses or Isaiah)? Is it just that Jesus made Pentecost possible - and so the Holy Spirit was given after him - and the Spirit makes obedience possible?

If so, your understanding of the Spirit isn’t Christological.

Revival movements - even ones which start well - need to beware of this danger: rightly speaking of the inward moral power of the Holy Spirit, but doing so unchristologically. That way lies the worst sort of legalism. (The Montanists¹ were an early example.)

The antidote? Reflecting more deeply on what it means for us to be in Christ. Through his Spirit, we enter into Christ’s freedom. We participate in Christ’s authority within the created order.

Or, to put it in Paul’s words, we are no longer slaves, but sons.

Christ OurJourney and Journey’s End

“As God, Christ is the destination to which we move; as man, the path by which we go.”

- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.2.1

Hat Tip: « Of First Importance

Preaching the Great Christological Texts

From Southern Baptist blog Between The Times comes this discussion by Danny Akin on the importance of Preaching the Great Christological Texts

What is it that drives Baptists like us, and evangelical Christians as a whole, to make such strong statements of theology and faith? I believe the answer can be found not only in “the clear teaching of the Holy Scripture” in general, but in the great Christological texts in the New Testament in particular. I refer to the quintessential quartet of John 1:1-18; Phil 2:1-11; Col 1:13-23; and Heb 1:1-3.

The clear exegesis and exposition of these four passages are the bedrock foundation of biblical and orthodox Christology. Both his person (full deity and perfect humanity) and work (sacrifice and atonement) are gloriously expounded in these texts, though it is his person that is more strongly emphasized.

What we think and believe about Jesus influences all aspects of our theology: what we think about God, the Bible, and salvation, for example. If we are to think correctly, that is biblically, about Jesus, these four great texts should be taught clearly, consistently, and courageously without compromise or apology.

I agree. We need more doctrinal preaching - good doctrine washes out bad theology. I hear lots of charismatic believers talk about being "anointed." If you want to be "anointed," talk about the "Anointed One" - that's what Messiah means! The Spirit loves to be present where Jesus is proclaimed and worshipped.

Chalcedon and the Real Presence

For any readers who are Theology or Church History geeks (like me), C. Michael Patton has an interesting post on how the Chalcedonian definition on the nature of Christ interacts with beliefs on the real presence in the bread and wine of Communion.

See Parchment and Pen » Do Catholics Deny Chalcedon in their View of Mass?