Santa Claus: A Big, Fat Disappointment

My son Cade loves the Saturday morning craft event they do at Lowe’s and Home Depot. We go every week. But last week, I was horrified.

The Home Depot craft was making a picture frame, and Santa Claus himself was there. You get your picture with Saint Nick, and while you build your frame, they print the picture that you put in your new frame. When we went in, Cade walked right up to the jolly one and said, “My name is Cade, and you must be Santa.” They exchanged pleasantries and took a picture.

We made the frame, we put the picture in, and we almost left with a successful event under our belts. Then the horrific event happened. As we walked out, Santa said, “It was nice to meet you, Cody.”

I was crushed, and I hope Cade just didn’t hear this. Cody?! Who is Cody?! You are supposed to know if he was naughty or nice, you are supposed to know what he wants you to bring him on December 25, and you don’t even know his name?!

Well, it was a reminder. Only God knows you. Really knows you. Doesn’t that give you comfort?

In fact, look again at what Jesus said in Matthew 10:30: But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Think about this. God knows how many hairs you have on your head. What is the significance of this information? What could someone possibly do with having an exact count of hairs on your head? What difference does it make if I have a thousand hairs… or none? Doesn’t that seem rather trivial?

That’s the point. God knows the most insignificant thing about you. He cares about you so much, that He even knows THAT! So whatever is burdening you, whatever keeps you up at night, whatever is troubling you, hurting you, breaking your heart… He knows, and He cares.

That’s the kind of God we have. He loves us in a way we can barely understand.

p.s. - is not renaming his son for the sake of Santa

Why does He talk like that?!

Have you ever been around someone that made you ask yourself this (hopefully in your head)? I went to high school with someone who suddenly grew a British accent when she went to work. I am sure she didn’t know she was doing it. But I was just like… why is she talking like that? When did she get so British?

So Jesus, the greatest Person to ever walk the earth, is about to reveal some deep spiritual truths about God, the earth, heaven, hell, the Gospel, the end of the world… you know, all the big topics. And He starts His teaching by basically saying, “Want to know about Sovereign Holy God’s kingdom? Let me tell you a story about a guy who had a bag of seeds.”

In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches 7 parables. What is a parable? The Greek (para) means “something alongside of something else”, or a comparison. It is a hard spiritual truth alongside an easy, earthly story. Spiritual matters are very hard for fleshly humans to understand, so parables help us make sense of them.

Parables can be effective for many reasons. They put concepts in pictures, for those of us who think that way. Parables are also easy to remember and retell. They are also great attention-grabbers!

But why did Jesus talk like that? Why didn’t He just teach the facts? Why did He communicate in parables?

In Matthew 13:10-17, the disciples had the same question, and Jesus explains why.

Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: "'You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. 

So Jesus said He speaks in parables because “seeing they do not see” and “hearing they do not hear”. Parables had a way of revealing truth to some people and concealing it from others… at the same time! If you want to hear God’s truth, He makes a way. But if you harden your heart, you will not be able to hear him! Receive truth, get more; reject truth, stay in darkness! Also an interesting note: Jesus didn’t explain this to the multitudes… He explained this to His disciples!

The bottom line is grace. We are accountable for how we respond to what we know. And the more someone knows… and rejects… the worse the punishment is going to be for them in hell. So God, in His grace, uses a method of clearly teaching truth in a way that can be taught by those looking for it… BUT ALSO missed by those not interested. It’s grace!

The parables have always fascinated me. How can Jesus say so much by saying so little? Join us at Harvest on Sunday as we seek to understand the profound truths taught in simple stories.

p.s. - has a congregation that wishes he could say so much by saying so little

OK, Bible students, here's a quick study to get you ready for Sunday

We are ramping up to Matthew 13 for our new sermon series beginning June 10. Prepare yourself with a little background study!

The book of Matthew was written to show that Jesus Christ is the promised King from David’s line (2 Samuel 7), the Son of God, and the Messiah. You see an element of Jesus’ Kingship in every chapter!

Chapter 1 – Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed in His lineage, as He is born through the messianic line.

Chapter 2 – Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed by the magi, or wise men, who themselves were king-makers.

Chapter 3 – Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed by John the Baptist, the preordained forerunner to the King.

Chapter 4 - Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed by His conflict with Satan, resisting temptation and conquering the kingdom of darkness.

Chapters 5-7 - Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed through His teaching.

Chapters 8-10 - Jesus Christ’s kingship is confirmed through His miracles. Many really begin to reject the King, and the greater the evidence given, the greater the rejection becomes.

Chapter 11 - Jesus Christ denounces Israel for rejecting Him as their King (and Savior) and promises severe judgment. Yet the invitation to come to Him is still given (vs 25-30).

Chapter 12 – The rejection of Jesus Christ reaches a climax, and so does the pronouncement of judgment. The rejection goes to the point that Jesus us accused of being satanic. Jesus points out that such a mindset indicates someone beyond the point of being forgiven (vs 31-32). There is still yet another invitation given (v 50).

To sum up: Christ is proven to be the King, but He is rejected as King, so He pronounces judgment on those who have rejected Him. Yet the invitation is still open to those who would receive Him.

Israel has rejected the King, therefore, the kingdom is also rejected. For centuries, the Jews were looking for the Messiah to establish God’s kingdom on earth. At last it was offered to them, but they refused it. When we get to chapter 13 in Matthew, we see a new perspective in the ministry of Christ.

Three big questions need answered about all of this:

Big question #1: If Jesus came to establish the kingdom of God on earth, which was promised through Israel, but Israel refused Him and His kingdom, then what happened to the kingdom? Matthew 13 has the answer. The kingdom cannot come until Israel receives the King. Until then, the kingdom has to be postponed in terms of its complete fulfillment. It has to be postponed to a future time. What time is that? The second coming of Christ. Jesus is coming a second time because His kingdom was rejected the first time He came. Jesus, John the Baptist, and the apostles all preached that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17, 3:2, 10:7), but because the King and kingdom were rejected, this kingdom is postponed.

Big Question #2: Why didn’t God just eliminate the kingdom? Because He promised Israel a future kingdom! Now there is an internal aspect of the kingdom for those who have received Christ, but there will be an external aspect someday as well (Zechariah 12:10, Zechariah 13:1, Romans 11:26, Revelation 20). At Christ’s reign on the earth during the Millennium, the kingdom will be fulfilled – internally AND externally.

Big Question #3: What happens in the time between the rejection of Christ and the Second Coming of Christ? There are different names for this time period: the parenthesis, the interim, the interregnum (yeah, my favorite). As discussed earlier, it is a period not seen in the Old Testament. In fact, in Mark 4:11, Jesus calls it a “mystery”, that is, “what was hidden is now revealed”. Part of mystery is that in this period of the kingdom, Jews and Gentiles would be part of a combined identity (Ephesians 3:5-6), something else not seen in OT.

So Matthew 13 has 7 parables that describe what the interim period will be like. During the interim, the kingdom goes on while the king is absent. Jesus, at this point, is in heaven, at the right hand of the Father, but that doesn’t mean He isn’t present in our midst...the Bible says He is!

I am so excited to be exploring this passage with you, starting this Sunday (June 10)!

p.s. - class dismissed!

(Note: This material adapted from John MacArthur‘s The Kingdom of Heaven)

Get Ready for Our Next Sermon Series: The Kingdom of Heaven

You can’t miss it. Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus over and over kept talking about the kingdom of heaven. “It’s like this, it can be compared to this…” It was the theme of many of His parables. But what is the kingdom of heaven?

We will be immersing ourselves in Jesus’ key teachings on this subject. The sermon series “Jesus Introduces the Church Age” will begin June 10 and run through most of the summer. Why is this such an important series? Because Jesus is describing, in detail, the very day that we live in! We don’t have to wonder what God is up to between the first appearance and the second coming of Christ. Jesus spells it all out!

These are the questions Jesus answered that we will be diving into:

How will people respond to the Gospel?

How do we deal with unbelievers?

How far can this go?

What is it worth?

How will it end?

What is my part in all of this?

The next few blogs will give some context and background to prepare us for this study. I encourage you to be reading these and preparing for this series. You will see the Gospel in a fresh and exciting way as Jesus describes how His Kingdom will advance on the earth until His return!

Join us!