December 22, 2024

Tapestry

Our 9:00 am Traditional Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/562731143137930

Our 10:30 am Contemporary Service: https://www.facebook.com/BRBUMC/videos/950740930439763

HOPE

When God created the world, He said that it was good! When He created man, He said that it was very good! But then…. sin entered the world. Sin has permeated everything in this beautiful world that God created. Everything in this world has been affected by sin. Even the things that we count as beautiful have been tainted by sin. Think about it, the rain, once pure and drinkable is now contaminated. The rivers at one time provided fresh water for weary travelers, but nowadays, leery travelers will risk a sip only with a filtration straw. The soil we grow our crops in are depleted of its minerals, and if the soil has less mineral content, then guess what, so does your food. There is a lot more I could point out, but I think you get the picture. The world has been affected by sin.
Mankind has also been affected by sin. Right and wrong no longer exist, but rather “what is right for you may not be right for me.”. Love, kindness, compassion, and empathy, seem to be wanting in our world. Not too long ago, and you may remember this from the News, a mother left her baby in a pack and play, with a bottle full of formulas, and went off on a vacation.  When she returned, she found her baby was no longer alive. I mention this because in my opinion it reveals the depths of sin in our culture. When a mother is able to leave her baby uncared for…to suffer a horrible death all alone, her cries for comfort unanswered, it shows how far we have strayed. I use this example, because the most natural thing in the world is for a mother to love her child. In Romans 1:26, Paul tells us how much sin has affected mankind, and within his list, he tells us “that even women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.”, and while this could be referring to sexual sin, every time I read a news report of child abuse, or child exploitation, this is the scripture that comes to mind, and it breaks my heart. But I think it is just an example of how sin has corrupted what is good, and natural. If it were not for the Gospel there would be no hope!
When sin entered the world, God was not surprised. He, the Triune God, had already made a plan. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, agreed that the Son would come and save the day! God didn’t keep this a secret, He shared this plan with His prophets so they would have HOPE. Those prophets recorded these promises, and those promises were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, and this was a sign that HOPE had arrived! (If you are curious to read a few; Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2, Jeremiah 23:5-6.)
God, from the beginning, has promised to make things right, and to undo the effects of sin, and what happened on Christmas, all those years ago, was the beginning of that process. Jesus was born in that manger, but that is just the beginning, He would go on to live a life that began a revolution. He would heal, He would feed, and He would teach, and through those teachings mankind would learn that God places value in life, and that every person born is precious to Him.  That is why Jesus willingly gave His life, so that they could be saved, but not just saved from the consequences of their own sin, but also freedom from the influence of sin that would cause them to victimize others. Jesus humanized…. humans. He taught those who “heard” to love others and showed them what that looked like. And if we listen today, we hear that same message. And that is why I have hope for a better world, because for each person who hears the Gospel, and receives that message, their lives are changed, and the way they treat others also changes…and that changes the world! We hold on to that hope, even in the darkest days, because we know that God’s promises hold true!  – Ginny Axelrod