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

I love New Year's Day! (the actual day and the U2 song)

I love New Year’s Day.

I don’t know why. I don’t have any particularly great memories of spectacular events that happened on any January 1 in my life. But it has always been a meaningful day to me.

I think it has to do with the sense of January 1st bringing to us the one thing we all long for: a chance to start over.

Every year marks triumph and tragedy. Wins and losses. New life and saying goodbye to loved ones. And New Year’s Day brings with it that sense of closing the chapter on the previous year while standing in anticipation of what will happen in the next year.

This is also one of the most alluring things about the Gospel of Jesus Christ: a chance to start over. No matter how badly we blew it, no matter how many times we insisted on our own way… God reaches out to us with forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

Is this the year? Is 2012 the year that you decide you are done trying to do things your way? Is this the year that things really change for you, as you allow Jesus Christ to have His rightful place as Lord of your life?

If you have said, “This is the year I am going to start going to church”, then I have great news: you can come to Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North! We are a brand new church, so this is a great time to get on board.

What kind of church are we? Come as you are and experience passionate contemporary worship and messages from Bible that will help you grow in your journey. You will be welcomed, accepted, and loved. We are conveniently located in Wexford, meeting at Marshall Middle School (5145 Wexford Run Road) every Sunday morning at 10:00 am.

Don’t let anything get in the way! And lose the notion that you have to be a “good person” to go to church. You only have to be a person who realizes you need the Lord. And He is ready to give you your chance to start over.

p.s. - just hold the sauerkraut

Who killed Jesus?

It's a question that has fueled hatred and controversy since that first "Good Friday". Who is tho blame for the crucifixion of the Son of God?

Some have put it on the Romans. Crucifixion was the Roman form of execution, Pilate could have released Jesus, Roman guards nailed him to that cross. But ultimately, it wasn't the Romans who killed Jesus. 

Others blame the religious leaders. They were always after Him. Caiaphas and company made it their life's ambition to find a way to kill Him (Matthew 26:4, John 11:53), so surely they could be credited as the ones who killed Jesus. 

It has to be Judas Iscariot, right? Luke 22:3-6 even says that Satan entered Judas, who went to the aforementioned religious leaders to cash in on selling Jesus out. Wait, maybe Satan is to blame, then. No and no, ultimately it is neither Judas nor Satan who killed Jesus. 

Constantine and Martin Luther are among those who had a disdain for the Jews, because they have to be credited for killing Jesus. John 7:1 says the Jews were seeking to kill him. It was the Jews who demanded his death in John 19:7. Can we blame an entire nation of people, even those alive today, for killing Jesus? No. Repent from the anti-Semitism, God has not forsaken His chosen nation, read Romans 9-11. It was not the Jews who killed Jesus. 

The answer is astounding. According to the Bible... God killed Jesus!

Isaiah 53, written long before Jesus Christ walked the earth, is prophecy all about Him and His ministry. Verse 10 says, "Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him, he has put him to grief..." Let that sink in for a while. Who killed Jesus? It was the will of the Lord to crush Him. Some translations say it PLEASED the LORD to crush Him!

Wha...? So the next question is easy: WHY?! Well, the answer is right there in the next line: "when his soul makes an offering for sin." God the Father was the one who killed God the Son, it was the Father's will! Jesus knew this, of course. In John chapter 10, Jesus was talking about laying down His life. John 10:18 says, "No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." (emphasis mine) 

Jesus knew that His death on the cross was the will of His Father, so in His perfect obedience, He was nailed to the cross. 

The result of this sacrifice is also in Isaiah 53. Verse 11 says that His death was to make many to be accounted righteous, bearing their iniquities. To those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, this is why we look back to the cross on Good Friday. My sin and your sin, our rebellion, is spitting in the face of our Holy Creator. We deserve to be punished, but on the cross, God the Father poured out His wrath on Jesus Christ. Upon receiving Him, God pronounces us not guilty! We can be perfectly righteous in God's eyes, not by anything we can do, but because of what Jesus Christ accomplished. 

So God killed Jesus. And He did it so you and I could be forgiven. 

p.s. - "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." -2 Corinthians 5:21