The Music of Christmas

Bill and Gloria Gaither said it best, Jesus Christ “started the whole world singing”. If I’m not mistaken, Christmas is the most musical holiday of all. Christmas music literally encircles the globe. Some people complain about the commercialization of Christmas, but I like the Christianization of the marketplace. At no other time can you walk through the mall and hear beautiful gospel music pouring out of the speakers. Some of the music is about Santa Claus and reindeer, but I enjoy that too. The imagination is a marvelous gift of God and Gene Autry’s “Rudolph” song is lots of fun to sing and I think really entertaining. Even if the words are a secular fantasy, all real music is a gift of God because music itself is a gift God built into the DNA of the universe.

I love the special Christmas services, especially when I get to sing. This year our First Church of God choir (St Joseph, MI) did the cantata “Child of Wonder” and this marvelous choir really nailed it. I doubt if many have done it better. Just a few minutes ago I heard “There’s Something Going on Down in Bethlehem”, one of the fun (but incredibly inspirational) songs in this cantata being sung on the Purdue University Christmas Show. They did a marvelous job and it’s always a thrill to hear Christ proclaimed over national television, but the truth is, as good as they were, they didn’t do it as well as our choir! I shouldn’t brag, especially since I’m in the tenor section, but we probably did one of the best it’s ever been done.

Pastor Chad Harlan knows how to get the most out of a choir—the perfect combination of pastor, disciplined taskmaster and gifted teacher. Last Sunday evening we sang the cantata at First Church and this morning we sang “Hark the Herald” in the 9:30 am service in St Joseph and then scurried over to Benton Heights to sing the full cantata at the First Church at Benton Heights 11 am service.

For more than a year I was one of the associate pastors at the Benton Heights Church and I remember some young black men who checked us out and weren’t too sure they even liked us. But Campus Pastor Mary Shawl-Ranke and now Pastor Colt Slack have, together with a host of lay volunteers, shared Christ’s love with those young men and what a blessing it was to look out into the congregation from the choir and see so many of those young men sitting in the pews, participating in the service, obviously very much a part of the congregation. The congregation is white, black and Hispanic, young, old and in-between, and they all made our choir feel so welcome. We all had a marvelous time and God was glorified in the worship, the music, and the marvelous voices. Pastor Colt even did a little preaching to close it out. God’s glory shows best in the lives of people whose hearts have been transformed by the gospel of Christ.

But I digress. This post is about the music of Christmas. It’s just the best. Whether “Silver Bells” or “Silent Night”, it is Jesus who gave us something to sing about and when we sing songs of joy and happiness, we bring glory to God!

Carol and I were blessed to grow up in musical families. We shared that heritage with our children and now the grandchildren too are singers and musicians. Our extended families have always been and still are gifted singers and musicians. We give all praise to God who gave us this gift of music.

Thank you God for this gift—the ability to sing (or listen), and play instruments. I especially, thank you for the gift of your Son, who created us to sing and gave us all a reason to do so!

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s “My View from Tanner Creek”.

   

The Generosity of God

In the New Testament book of Matthew (20:1-15) is a parable known as the “Parable of the workers in the vineyard”. However, I call it the "Parable of the Generosity of God" because the most important point is given by the landowner (representing God) who asks the complaining workers, "...are you envious because I am generous?"

We all experience the generosity of God but do we deserve God’s kindness? Blessings of health, the ability to work, raise a family and enjoy recreation and leisure? And most of all do any of us deserve the blessing of heaven? Can anyone say we deserve to spend eternity in the presence of God? Do any deserve the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross? In every instance the answer is no—none of us deserve God's unlimited generosity. And yet, in Psalm 103 we read "as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love toward those who fear him." No doubt the generosity of God is best expressed in this unlimited love poured out on all creation.

However, if we try to use the love of God, and thoughtlessly neglect eternal values of life we run the risk there will be no time or desire for repentance and we could be eternally separated from God's generous love by our own selfishness and carelessness.

God's reward of eternal life is freely given to all who willingly accept. It is not limited to those who have served him a long time but it is limited to those who accept by faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. If you have not accepted Christ by faith I urge you to do so now. It is a simple, but life-changing process. The following straightforward prayer, prayed honestly from the heart, can be your doorway into eternal life and into the bounties of God.

“Lord Jesus, I believe you are God’s Son and the Savior of the world. I am sorry for my sin and especially the great sin of not believing in you. I ask your forgiveness and seek your help to live a godly life. I know I can’t do it in my own strength. Please come into my heart and be my Savior. Help me serve you faithfully all my earthly life and throughout eternity.”

This gift of salvation is God’s supreme act of generosity and his highest joy! The greatest joy of heaven is found when we repent of sin and gain this wonderful salvation.

You would think God could have found an easier way to provide for our salvation than to send his only beloved son to die on a cross! But God didn't look for the easy way. He wanted the best way—for you and me and for the whole world—and that Way is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The danger is that we depend too much on the generosity of God. Simply because he is generous, loving, compassionate, and understanding—does not mean God is a soft touch. We must not presume to put off eternal decisions to a later date and then depend on God to give us the added time necessary to accept him at the last minute. Don’t wait until it is time to die before making provision for eternity. If we deliberately do so, we gamble with our eternal souls and may be tempting God. We have the clear warning in scripture that we should not be so deceived because the norm is that “a man reaps what he sows." (Galatians 6:7 NIV)

The good news is that the person ready to die is the one most ready to live. If we prepare now for eternity we also experience abundant life in the present.

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s

 “My View from Tanner Creek”.

     

The Source of our Joy!

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

My friend Andy Lindgren put a good quote from John Piper on Facebook recently. It read ‎"God does not forbid sexual sin because he's a killjoy, but because he opposes what kills joy."

I thought that was an excellent quote and it got me to thinking of how I believe God feels about sin in general. He hates it. The reason God hates sin is because of the pain it brings into people's lives. A good definition for sin could be "that which destroys those whom God loves".

I find it surprising and perplexing when people seem to think (as John Piper’s quote clearly implies) that God calls anything sin that would bring us joy. This makes God out to be just that—a killjoy. And nothing could be farther from the truth. As Piper’s full quote makes clear, God merely “opposes what kills joy.”

God created us so that laughter is some of the world’s best medicine. That’s an old saying, but it is also a clear teaching of scripture as we can see from Proverbs (17:22) where we read “A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.”

“The joy of the Lord is my strength.” we are told in the book of Nehemiah (8:10). When Nehemiah the governor asked Ezra the priest to read the book of the law the people were so deeply moved that they wept as they worshiped the Lord. But Nehemiah said to them “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Why would God create us to respond so naturally to joy that laughter becomes our best heart medicine and his joy is the source of superhuman strength if he is not the God of good times, laughter and joy? He doesn’t want to ruin our days by calling fun things sin, he wants to extend our joy by protecting us from those behaviors, attitudes and outlooks that destroy our lives and cause us so much pain. God’s hatred of sin comes out of his love for mankind. He created us to be the recipients of his unconditional love and he wants us to experience the good things of life, rather than those things that will at best brings us pain and at its worst, totally destroy us.

As John Piper said, “God does not forbid sexual [or any] sin because he's a killjoy, but because he opposes what kills joy."

God finds joy when he sees his human creation experience his joy in every area of our lives and he is the source of our joy. When we find him, we find the joy of the Lord!

Thanks for the reminder Andy!

I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

  

God’s People Should Expect Victory

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Too many who claim to be believers in Christ do not expect to win the battle against sin and evil. They merely hope to get out of this world without being a casualty (going to hell), but they often do not have even the faintest expectation of real victory. They seem to think Satan is bound to win and about all we can do as Christians is try to carry out an orderly retreat until Christ returns to take us to be with him.  And yet the Scriptures are full of references that show we can expect the triumph of good over evil, of God over Satan, in this world!

When Jesus gave his great commission to the disciples (and to us) he said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."(Mt 28:18b NIV) and "And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." (Mt 28:20b NIV)  Since we know this, shouldn't we expect to be victorious? After all, wasn't John writing to us when he said, "the one who is in you (the Spirit of Christ) is greater than the one who is in the world." (the spirit of the antichrist)? (I John 4:4b) 

Christ has already won the battle with Satan. The war is now being fought in this world, but the last battle has already been fought in Gethsemane, on Calvary and in what is now an empty tomb. Even though we serve the winner, too often we who are believers in Christ are willing to concede the victory to sin and death, while we hope to run off to heaven where we'll be safe, even though millions are perishing under the cruelty of Satan.

What we need is a theology of victory. We need such a great faith in the weapons of God and in the plan of God that we expect to win a resounding victory. God's plan is that his followers give their lives as completely and unselfishly as Christ gave himself during his life and ministry on earth. Naturally, if we refuse to follow God's plan we can expect our alternate plan to be less successful at best, if not totally worthless.

Love is more powerful than hate, kindness more powerful than cruelty, patience more powerful than impatience. Good is always more powerful than any corresponding and opposite evil. There may be instances where evil appears to triumph in the short term, but good always prevails in the long term if it has people who lift it up and practice it in their daily lives This being so, why would we assume that evil will triumph and prevail against the Lord and his people?

Isaiah gave us God’s words about the age in which we now live when he wrote, "The time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory." (66:18) And in verse 23b, the Lord is quoted as saying, "all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the Lord."

We just need to do our job. We need to act on our faith in God and his methods. God's primary method is for people to use the weapons he has given. Weapons such as truth, compassion, concern, kindness, love, prayer, and others like these—all greatly powerful when shared from a selfless heart. With such a flawless plan and such invincible weapons we can attain victory. We must believe God and cease to be prophets of doom. We need a faith that we can win our world for Christ and begin to see the rule of the Kingdom of God in the affairs of humanity.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

    

Pew Forum Survey Fosters Confusion

I don’t think they mean to, but recent articles about the Pew Form on Religion and Public Life have caused much confusion as the results of the study get farther and farther from the source. The problem is in the interpretations we take from their reports. Recently many people are concerned about the decline in the percent of Protestants in America.

If you read the article carefully, it sounds to me like they only counted protestant denominations. Probably the Church of God wasn't counted as Protestant and I'm sure the independent community churches were not counted. I am convinced—contrary to what many think—that we are living in the greatest time in the history of the Christian faith, only to be exceeded by the church of the future. God is on the throne, the Lord Jesus Christ is still the Author and Perfector of faith and God's Holy Spirit still works powerfully in the hearts and lives of God’s people.

The article quotes “Doug Sweeney, professor of church history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, [who] said ‘mainline churches have long been aware of their declining membership.’”

It is too bad the study didn’t recognize the shift from mainline denominations to independent churches and count them as a group who fall under the “Protestant” cape even though they don’t think of themselves that way. This would have given us a much better picture of reality.

However, it is unfortunately true that many who leave the church of their parents never look back. Often they are significantly religious, holding to much the same values as their parents and their parents’ church, however, my experience with this phenomena has been that even though the middle generation (children of church-going Christians) still have faith, if they do not eventually find a church home, they do not pass their inherited values and faith on to their own children. So within three generations the church and the Bible can totally disappear from the influence of the family. This is a genuine tragedy because nothing can replace scripture to mold values, ethics and morality.

So if you’re a parent of children who have left the faith, what do you do about them and your grandchildren? Is it hopeless? Many are the grandparents who pick up their grandchildren and take them to church when their children won’t. This may not be possible however, if they live in a far-away town, or even if you live in the same town, but your children won’t cooperate. Then what can you do?

Sometimes the only thing you can do is pray. But that should not be a note of great discouragement. Saying that doesn’t mean it is hopeless and there is nothing you can do. Prayer is a powerful force for good when used appropriately. According to scripture, the primary requirement is that it must be a prayer of faith. In other words, you must be praying to God and believe that God not only hears, but answers, and has the ability to act on your behalf, or on behalf of those for whom you are praying, when it is appropriate.

Prayer is a gift from God to humanity as a method for us to acquire his power, wisdom, grace, and ability, to positively impact our need. It never “bothers” God when we pray. But my guess is it bothers him significantly when we don’t pray. If I could give him a human attribute, he probably scratches his head in amazement and wonders, “Why don’t they use this gift of prayer I have given them?

Refusing to pray is like sleeping outside in the winter rain when you own a house to live in.

I'm Rick Blumenberg and that's “My View from Tanner Creek.”