I spent a good portion of yesterday and already some time this morning watching Christmas videos on the internet for a project at the church.  Most of these videos boil down to a single theme – why do we celebrate Christmas? After watching all those videos, I opened my Bible to Psalm 30 and read these words…

Sing to the Lord, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning (vs 4-5).

Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me;
O Lord, be my help.
You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy (vs 10-11).

That is why we celebrate Christmas.  We celebrate Christmas because God has heard our cry for mercy and responded with sending his only son.  We celebrate Christmas because, in Christ, God is our help and will teach us to dance and clothe us with joy. We celebrate Christmas it was at the coming of Christ that we experience that his favor lasts for a lifetime and we can live as objects of his favor forever.

Here are a few books that would make good gifts for me if someone is looking for ideas. I’ll add more if I think of them.

Christian Writers’ Market Guide		Heaven by Randy Alcorn
Advanced Strategic Planning by Aubrey Malphurs		The Holy Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson

J.B. Phillips wrote a book many years ago entitled, Your God is Too Small. And I wonder if he isn’t right on the mark. When was the last time that you heard about God, thought about God or sang a song about God that made you shudder because you grasped the awesomeness of God. As I read Psalm 29, below, I began to shudder, overcome by how great is our God.

Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord strikes
with flashes of lightning.
The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.

Is your God powerful? Is your God majestic? Is he enthroned as King forever? Because my King is. If that’s not your king, watch this video and see if you don’t tremble is some amazing combination of fear and excitement.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upGCMl_b0n4 425 355]

Why are we in such a hurry for non-believers to be punishes by God?  I recently preached a sermon on Jonah where I asked exactly that question.  Why did Jonah, the one who had been the object of God’s kindness and mercy, want anyone to experience his wrath?  In Psalm 28, David asks for the same thing that Jonah longed – that his enemies would be repaid for their deeds.

Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
but harbor malice in their hearts.

Repay them for their deeds
and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
and bring back upon them what they deserve. (Ps 28:3-4)

At least they stood on the other side of the cross.  For those of us who look upon the cross as our saving grace, our longing should be that all those around us, even our enemies, would escape the wrath of God and cling to the grace of God in Christ.  We should long that they would be the objects of God’s kindness and forever experience the incomparable riches of his grace (Eph 2:7) along with us.  Instead, we long for them to experience the horror and pain that is God’s judgment.  Why is that?

Sometimes these lists are not very good. But this one was well-compiled and right on…

You Know You Grew Up in the 80′s If…