NOVEMBER 2013
In this issue
11
Why is the virgin birth important?
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Three Ways to Fill Your Museum of Memories Charles R. Swindoll
6 Simplifying—Not Skipping —Christmas Robyn Roste
14
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LAUGHING MATTERS Christmas Letters Phil Callaway
11 Cradle or Cross? Steve Johnson 14 Q & A Steve Johnson
Copyright © 2013 Insight for Living Canada. All rights reserved. No portion of this monthly publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publisher. Insights is published by IFLC, the Bible-teaching ministry of Charles R. Swindoll. IFLC is an autonomous ministry and certified member of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture passages are taken from the NASB. Unless otherwise noted, photography and illustration by IFLC staff. Printed in Canada.
by Charles R. Swindoll
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Y
ou have a museum in your mind. It’s a museum of memories. Anniversaries. Birthdays. Graduations. Holidays. Long-standing traditions. Life’s milestones. Even recoveries from serious illnesses. Each memory hangs in its place, firmly fixed in your mind…and in the minds of your children. Think of yourself as the curator of your museum. You’re the one who watches over its treasures and realizes its value. Even before your children grow up, you realize you’re endowing yourself and them with museums of life’s treasured memories. That’s part of what draws me to the book of Psalms. These songs paint pictures of life as it really is…and when it comes to the family, Psalm 127 does this better than most. Two of its verses speak directly to us as curators: It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. (Ps. 127:2 NLT) Our occupations are important and demand much of our time. Rightly so. However, very few treasures from the office hang in our museums of memories. Solomon wisely reminds us in this psalm—just as he does in the book of Ecclesiastes—that it is “useless” to work from dawn till after dark as if it all depends on us. It doesn’t. That’s life on the ragged edge. That’s the world’s system. Overworking ourselves at the expense of our families is useless because, ultimately, it is God who provides for us. But there’s another reason that ragged lifestyle is useless. We have a museum to look after! It needs to be filled with the right treasures. Our priority as curators 4
requires that we give attention to the treasured memories we are making with our families. Solomon makes this clear: Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. (127:3) Some of the most important memories we’re making with our children and grandchildren stem directly from our attitudes and actions toward them. Let me share three ways that we can help provide our children and grandchildren with a collection of treasured memories that will hang forever in their museums. First, let your children and grandchildren know you value them…and you enjoy their presence. Every child is a gift and a reward from God. We build memories that our children will treasure when we remind them again and again that they are God’s gifts to our family. Let them often hear words like, “You are such a delight!” Or “It’s great to see how you’re growing up and becoming your own person.” (I just said that to one of our grandsons at lunch today.) In addition to communicating their worth with our words, we also affirm their value with our time. Time is a major donor to the museum of memories. Are you a grandparent? Now’s your chance! If your children didn’t get much of your time when they were growing up, make sure your grandchildren get it. Nothing communicates the value of a person like spending time with him or her. Second, let them see your authentic walk of faith…including genuine apologies. Our families long to remember that what we said through our mouths we lived out through our lives. Children—especially teenagers— cannot tolerate hypocrisy. (We adults don’t care for it much either.) I’m not talking about modelling perfection. We are going
Three Ways to Fill Your Museum of Memories continued from p. 3
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family © shutterstock
"We have a museum to look after! It needs to be filled with the right treasures."
to blow it. But part of an authentic walk of faith includes genuine apologies when we mess up…rather than phoney backpedalling to cover our tracks. An authentic Christianity that includes sincere apologies creates precious memories that will hang forever in the museums of their hearts— never to be forgotten. Ever. Third, delight to listen to them…and to laugh with them! OK, this one’s tough for some folks—I get it. You and I are the older and wiser ones. We could save our kids so much heartache if they would only listen to us! But our words can’t come first in priority. Here’s why: our words will fall flat when we fail to treat their words as valuable. We’re just wasting our time. They will learn that we care about them because we listen to them—not because we preach at them. (Read that again.) Find delight in listening to them. Yes, just listening. When we do so, we get the inestimable privilege of hearing what they say…of reading between the lines. Before long, we will build a relationship where they feel
safe to share their feelings…their fears… their secrets…and their treasures. We’re the curators, remember? Oh, and don’t forget to laugh with them! I have an old saying that our kids have heard from me for years, “You can’t beat fun.” I can assure you, when fun leaves our families, our kids want out. I urge you to laugh often—and loudly! (Loud is the only way I know to laugh!) We already have many memories hanging in our museums…and we have many more to come. If it’s true that the most recent memories are often the best remembered, then there’s no better time than now to turn a corner and start hanging in our children’s and grandchildren’s museums the precious memories our families long to cherish. Never forget…we are curators of God’s greatest treasures.
Photograph of Chuck Swindoll © 2012 by Luke Edmonson
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by Robyn Roste
E
very year my husband and I have the same conversation revolving around Christmas. His job keeps him away over the holiday and I want him to come home. He says the money’s too good and he doesn’t like holidays anyway. I pout a bit but the discussion ends. Because when I stop and think about it, I’m not so keen on holidays either. For me the Christmas season is sapped of joy.
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Instead of singing carols and celebrating beneath a warm hearth my experience is more frantic. Each year I race around attempting to appear at every holiday function in order to fulfil my perceived obligations. I go from store to house and back again. On dark icy roads. Alone. And I’ve had enough. This year I’ve found my thoughts drifting to what Christmas means and what it
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has become for me. When did I buy in to the tradition, consumerism, and stress of the season? When did I take on this secular viewpoint and forget to make celebrating Christ the reason I even bothered with it at all? And when did everything become so complicated? Christmas should be simple but there’s such a hype about it I’m exhausted before December hits. This year I want to avoid being stuck in a loop of stress and a bad attitude. I want to skip Christmas. I pitched the idea to my husband who then suggested we get away—since it’s easier to skip a holiday when you’re out of cell range. After a bit of juggling we found a way to make it work and began planning. As soon as we decided to skip Christmas the burden of the season lifted from my shoulders. While I know 99 per cent of this stress is self-induced, it still took physically leaving to get me to shake it. For this year at least I won’t be shopping, cooking, hosting, cleaning, visiting, or anything else I associate with Christmas. The closer our trip gets the more I’m discovering it’s not Christmas I needed to escape but the cycle I seem to be caught in. I need to re-focus and I’m not sure how to do it in my current context. Maybe this year things will be so simple I will have nothing else to think about but Christ and the whole reason we celebrate. And then next year I can come into Christmas with a positive attitude, and an absence of self-focus. Maybe by then I’ll be back on track. ▪ Robyn Roste is the Living Bridge Media manager at Insight for Living Canada.
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR WAYS TO
simplify Christmas? Here are a few suggestions. • Take an afternoon you would otherwise be shopping and visit a hospital or care home • Speaking of shopping, what about avoiding those crowded malls and buying online? • Clean out your closet. Seriously! Chances are, you’ll find gifts you meant to give out last year at the bottom or the top • Get a silly Christmas sweater and inspire laughter wherever you go
• Instead of purchasing decorations, look in your back yard for pine cones, branches, etc. to spruce your place up. I’ve had great success with gold spray paint, pine cones, and a little ribbon • Volunteer at a local soup kitchen or gift drive • Do you really need to send Christmas cards? What about an e-card instead? • If you go overboard on gifts try the “Three Kings” approach: Something you want, something you need, and something to wear/read • Don’t spend money you don’t have • Quit trying to do everything. Say “no” • Plan your month out on a calendar so you don’t double-book • Focus on your faith and your family • Shift your focus from what you don’t have and instead on why we celebrate Christmas in the first place
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by Phil Callaway
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LAUGHING MATTERS
A
lthough it has been a family tradition since my Scottish ancestors stowed away on the Mayflower, I have decided to avoid the writing of a Christmas letter this year. My reasons are threefold. Firstly, I am a procrastinator. My favourite T-shirt has this emblazoned on the front: Six reasons I procrastinate: 1. Secondly, the price of postage is getting out of hand for a Scot, leaving email as my only option. Since I receive approximately 1,400 junk emails a day mostly from folks who should have their mouths washed out with soap, I have decided to refrain. My third reason for avoiding the traditional Yuletide epistle is that each year I receive lengthy letters from friends of mine who have had the perfect year. Here’s one that arrived while I was having a perfectly good day last December. Names have been changed to protect the guilty. Merry Christmas dear friend, It’s been such a great year! Little Joseph (age 10) continues to excel in his studies in eleventh grade. It was slow going that first day in biophysics but he’s pulled up his socks enough to be grading papers for his favourite teacher. Joy (8) was voted Female Athlete of the Year in three separate sports (basketball, tennis, and skeet-shooting) and won both the fly-fishing derby and the pie Bake-Off for the second year running. Jon-
athan (6) is on the honour roll again, but has struggled a little with Spanish because he finds it similar to Portuguese, which he mastered last year. He enjoys leading the discipleship group and volunteering at the Seniors Centre. After my promotion, we decided to spend a month in the Caribbean where we adopted the twins (Juanita and Jose). My lovely wife June is tireless. She home-schools the kids, serves as a midwife (58 births this year) and has written her second dieting book. My job at the bank is certainly challenging, but difficulty squeezes the best from us all, doesn’t it? Signed, Jerry (Joyful in Moose Jaw) If I were to postpone my procrastinating long enough to write a Christmas letter this year, it wouldn’t look anything like Jerry’s. In fact, it might arrive looking something like this: Warm Greetings from the Callaways, I was hoping to tell you of our wonderful year. Then January arrived. In hindsight, the New Year’s Day explosion (a simple mix-up involving household chemicals like paint and bleach) should have foreshadowed things to come. On Valentine’s Day the basement sewer backed up. Apparently Jeffrey had spent years wondering what would happen if he flushed a beach towel. March saw one of us total the fender on the Ford three days before the engine light came on for good. May began with word of the tax audit (I accidentally added an extra zero to a cheque we wrote to our church), and
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in June the flooding began. July saw our daughter Rachael and her husband take off for Germany. It’s been quite a year. On a much sadder note, we’ve said goodbye to my closest friend Lauren and three members of my wife’s family. Her mother, her stepdad, and an older sister who battled Huntington’s disease for 25 years. I suppose a Christmas epistle from the Callaways would hardly be welcome reading while roasting chestnuts on an open fire. If joy depended on our circumstances, we’d have had an awful year. But we haven’t. Jeffrey left the front door open while we were decorating the Christmas tree—trying to heat the great outdoors, I suppose— and I yelled, “Were you born in a barn?” He poked his head around the corner and laughed. “Jesus was,” he said. And he was right. God sent His Son into the world for families like ours, families where the unexpected and the tragic infiltrate daily living, where questions don’t find ready answers and parenting is exhilarating and
exasperating, all in the space of six seconds. He came to the messiest of places, invading our brokenness with hope. This Christmas will mark the first time that we open presents without some very special people watching from a nearby sofa. I’ll miss some of the gifts my wife’s mother used to lavish on us. Chocolates. Gift certificates. And more recently a green-and-red Christmas sweater I haven’t had the nerve to wear publicly or the heart to throw away. But Christmas was never about stuff. It was about relationships. As we’ve reminded our children, “It’s not our birthday we’re celebrating now is it.” So this year beneath the tree, we won’t find as much as we used to. But still I’m working on my Christmas list. I think I’ll wrap up some household cleaners for my wife. A little bleach. A little paint. And after I help Jeffrey pick out some new bath towels, I think I’ll wrap up a family heirloom for the boy. I’ve heard Christmas sweaters are all the rage these days. ▪ Phil Callaway is on a Christmas Unplugged national tour. For locations visit laughagain.org
ON THE AIR IN NOVEMBER
QUESTIONS CHRISTIANS ASK Our journey along the path of faith is often punctuated by experiences causing us to question the direction we’re heading. These questions are some of life’s most crucial because they relate to the very foundation of our relationship with God. This study examines 12 of these critical questions. By turning to Scripture, we will find answers that strengthen our walk with God.
UPCOMING MESSAGES INCLUDE: Christ Is Raised, but What about Me? How Can I Win Over Worry? Is My Neighbour Really Lost? What Makes a Rebel Return?
by Steve Johnson
n the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, there’s a scene where Ricky Bobby, played by Will Ferrell, says grace before the family meal. He prays, “Dear Lord baby Jesus…” referring to Him through his prayer as baby Jesus, tiny infant Jesus, and newborn baby Jesus. His wife interrupts and says Jesus grew up and Ricky didn’t always have to call Him a baby. He explains he likes the Christmas Jesus best when saying grace. The scene stuck with me because it’s exactly what the world does when it comes to Christmas. We focus on a sanitized and sentimentalized baby version. Glorifying the baby Jesus and His birth is done in such a way the significance of Christmas is often missed. Most of the Christmas carols we sing and pageants we perform cater to this perspective. Don’t get me wrong; there is wonderful theology in many carols as they speak of the incarnation, Jesus as King, and the birth of a Saviour. But few if any are explicit about the fact that baby Jesus was born to die. Apart from the Gospel narratives, the birth of Jesus isn’t celebrated in Scripture. In fact, the apostles don’t recall the stable at Bethlehem, nor do they mention Mary by name, shepherds, wise men, or the star, to say nothing of cattle, sheep, and snowy winter! Unless we view Bethlehem from the perspective of the cross, most of what we sing and celebrate at Christmas amounts to glorying in the cradle, not the cross. The Cradle or Cross? continued from p. 11
love of a babe in a manger even though virgin-born and a King does nothing to save us. The Apostle Paul wrote, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world,” (Gal. 6:14 KJV). What saves us is the love revealed; when a grown-up Jesus hangs on a cross, suffers, and dies. When we have been to Calvary we cannot glory in the manger beyond the fact it was the preparation for the cross. To know and experience the real meaning of Christmas we must not linger too long at Bethlehem. We must go on to Calvary. We should remember the crib, but we should live at the cross. The wonder and glory of Christmas is not that Jesus came it is rather He came to die for sinners like you and me! His virgin birth brought God to us, but only His death as our substitute could bring us to God. Have you been brought to God? Or are you still at a distance, your sins separating you from God? A big gap separates an unforgiven, unredeemed sinner from a holy God. If we should celebrate the birth of our Lord and are still not brought to God then we have missed the whole purpose of it. Second Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (NASB). Are you rich? Rich in the knowledge that all your sins are forgiven? Rich in the knowledge that through Jesus Christ you possess a priceless, perfect righteousness, which
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God will accept? Are you rich because you can say the Lord has taken away the rags of your self-righteousness and clothed you with the garments of salvation?
“We should remember
the crib, but we should live at the cross.” Are you rich today because you have a steadfast and sure hope? Or are you spiritually bankrupt with nothing as you face the future and eternity? Maybe a few shreds of religious profession, maybe some effort now and then to try to clean up your act and live a better life? Is that all you have?
If Christmas finds you still living without God and without hope in the world, I ask with all sincerity why go through with Christmas? Would it not be something of a charade? But if we have trusted Jesus as our Saviour, if we see through His cross our sins have been taken away and righteousness has been given, if we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, then why should we not celebrate Christmas and everything else that speaks to us of our Saviour and His great redeeming work? Don’t go into Christmas seeing only the cradle with the baby version of Jesus. Look at Bethlehem from the viewpoint of the cross. The child of Bethlehem became the man of Calvary and carried your sin on that cross. Believe it. Receive it. Glory in it. ▪
by Steve Johnson
QUESTION:
Why is the virgin birth important? ANSWER: The doctrine of the virgin birth, or perhaps more accurately the virgin conception, is important for many reasons. On it hang the doctrines of original sin, the inspiration of Scripture, who Jesus was, and what Jesus did in salvation. Deny the virgin birth and you deny these other doctrines as well. Scripture describes the event for us. In response to Mary’s question, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk. 1:34), Gabriel says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk. 1:35). Matthew 1:20 says "...the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” From these passages, it’s clear Jesus’ birth was the result of the Holy Spirit working within Mary’s body. The immaterial (the Spirit) and the material (Mary’s womb) were both involved. Mary of course could not impregnate herself, and was
simply a vessel. Only God could perform the miracle of the Incarnation. We should also note that the virgin birth displays the tri-unity of God. The Spirit gives conception to Mary, carrying out the Father’s plan of the virgin birth of the Son. However, denying a physical connection between Mary and Jesus would imply Jesus was not truly human. Scripture teaches that Jesus was fully human, with a physical body. This He received from Mary. At the same time Jesus was fully God, with an eternal, sinless nature (Jn. 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 2:14-17). Romans 5 indicates the sin nature is passed down from generation to generation through the father. But Jesus was not born in sin; He had no sin nature (Heb. 7:26). He was the Holy One of God since He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Because He was the Son of God, He partook of the divine nature.
mary and child © shutterstock
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The virgin birth circumvented the transmission of the sin nature and allowed the eternal God to become a perfect man. He never sinned, which qualified Him to be a righteous substitutionary sacrifice for sinners. Christ was fully man and able to die and fully God so His death is of infinite worth and applicable to any and all who believe. The virgin birth is also important because it affirms the inspiration and authority of Scripture. If we deny the teaching and say it’s a myth then we undermine the rest of the Bible. Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” The word "virgin" is the Hebrew word "almah," which is translated as virgin or young woman. Those who deny the inspiration of Scripture say this word should be translated as "young woman" and the disciple Matthew was reading into the word to suit his agenda (Matt. 1:23). Centuries before Christ, when the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek by Jewish rabbis (70 of them according to tradition), the
Greek word they chose to render "almah" was "parthenos," which means a literal virgin. Centuries before there was any Christian agenda around to influence the story, the expectation among the Greekspeaking Jews (at a minimum) was that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. This is how Matthew takes Isaiah’s words.
“Christ was fully man and able to die and fully God so His death is of infinite worth and applicable to any and all who believe.”
Finally, the virgin birth is important because it shows us that salvation must be from God. It shows we have no part in undoing the sin curse. Only He can save us. Humanity couldn’t produce its own redeemer; salvation came from outside us. Salvation is supernatural and from the Lord. I hope this helps. - Steve Steve Johnson is the executive director at Insight for Living Canada.
THIS MONTH’S FEATURED RESOURCE
Famous Last Words Delve into the famous last words of 22 selected Bible characters. Some are inspiring. Some are tragic. All are valuable. If you want a fresh, biblical perspective to carry you through life, this book is for you! See enclosed form for ordering information 15
THE TRIP OF A
LIFETIME
Hear Chuck Swindoll speak at amazing locations— forever bonding these significant sites with lessons from God’s Word—and be a part of Insight for Living Canada’s 30th anniversary celebration.
Join our Canadian bus headed by executive director Steve Johnson and Dr. Dave Currie as we tour the Holy Land March 10-21, 2014.
Visit insightforliving.ca/events for more information
All is Well: Our Magnificent Savior is Born
SALE!
Christmas concert CD
9
$ 00
Celebrate the majesty of Christ’s birth with the Stonebriar Community Church choir and orchestra. This beautiful Christmas concert is one you will treasure for years to come!
reg. $12.00
on sale in
NOVEMBER The Glory of Christmas: Collectors Edition hardcover featuring Charles R. Swindoll, 144 pages
SALE!
1425
$
reg. $19.00
Max Lucado, Chuck Swindoll, Anne Graham Lotz, and Henry and Richard Blackaby have combined their own touch of inspiration with the true Spirit of Christmas—the birth of Jesus Christ—and created a classic collection of stories you’ll enjoy year after year.
C h ris tm as Classic!
The Child 2 CD messages
In these two messages, Deity in Diapers and Responding to the Redeemer, Chuck reflects on the Messiah who slipped unassumingly into the world as a baby and whose life still necessitates a response to His call, “Follow Me.”
SALE!
1050
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order/donate at insightforliving.ca or call 1.800.663.7639 offer expires DECEMBER 31, 2013
ON THE AIR THIS MONTH Living on the Ragged Edge: Coming to Terms with Reality 24 CD messages + workbook
King Solomon kept a journal of his desperate journey as he searched for meaning. That journal is the book of Ecclesiastes and its words are as relevant to today’s hedonistic, workaholic, and entertainment-frenzied culture as they were during Solomon’s time. Chuck’s study of Solomon will help you to discover the ultimate secret for the “good life”—a life of meaning in a world on the ragged edge.
SALE!
4690
$
reg. $67.00
Questions Christians Ask 12 CD messages
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30
$
10
reg. $43.00
The journey of faith is often punctuated by experiences causing us to question the direction we’re heading. Chuck asks 12 crucial questions and then allows the Scriptures to answer each one. You’ll find relevant answers relating to your home, your work, your future, and your life. * this product is not guaranteed for Christmas delivery
What if You Suddenly Lose Everything?
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5
$ 60 reg. $8.00
single CD message
How would you respond if you lost it all? All your material belongings, your job, your friends and family, and even your home? Chuck takes us to the book of Job to discover how one man responded to tragic losses with integrity. * this product is not guaranteed for Christmas delivery
THIS MONTH’S FEATURED RESOURCE FIRST COPY
3
$ 00
additional copies: $7.50 reg. $10.00
Famous Last Words paperback by Insight for Living, 104 pages
Delve into the famous last words of 22 selected Bible characters. Some are inspiring. Some are tragic. All are valuable. If you want a fresh, biblical perspective to carry you through life, this book is for you!
Paws & Tales DVD 5: Giving Thanks
s stma Chr i ed! m e h T
2 DVD episodes, approximate running time 50 minutes
This animated DVD includes two episodes, Every Good Thing and True Riches, which teach children about being thankful at Christmas and all year-round.
SALE!
9
$ 00 reg. $12.00
Paws & Tales DVDs 1-13 Complete set of 13 DVDS, approximate running time 50 minutes per DVD.
If you love Paws & Tales now’s your chance to own the complete 13-DVD set! Each DVD contains two animated episodes and helps kids learn biblical lessons in a fun way.
SALE!
6
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00
reg. $8.00
Here’s How to Finish Well single CD message
Enoch. Moses. Caleb. Paul. When we think about these men, we recall how they lived fully and finished well. How did they remain faithful? We attain some insight into this question in the final verses of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where he provided four guidelines for finishing well.
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9300
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13
50
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SALE!
9
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Growing Deep in the Christian Life
Stewarding Your “Stuff,” Wills, Taxes and More...
paperback by Charles R. Swindoll, 430 pages
study guide by Canadian National Christian Foundation, 70 pages
Chuck blows the dust off the dull doctrines and breathes life into the practical side of theology. Filled with humorous stories and down-to-earth applications, Chuck’s study reveals how the practical side of theology is what helps us grow deeper in the Christian Life.
This study guide is organized into four lessons— stewardship, inheritance, transferring assets, and estateplanning tools. It also includes devotionals to challenge you to live in peace in the midst of financial storms.
Christmas
SALE! A selection of our favourite Christmas gift ideas are on sale this season! Visit insightforliving.ca/christmas and find something for everyone on your list.
25%
OFF
info@insightforliving.ca • insightforliving.ca • 1.800.663.7639