Loyal, OK

 
Pastor Leon Seaton

Our Christmas Eve Devotional was the lighting of the Advent Candles: Love, Peace, Hope and Joy. After the prayer my wife asked our granddaughter, “If you had to give up one of the four – Love, Peace, Hope or Joy, which one would you give up?”

Karen was very thoughtful, then she responded, “Actually, none of them. I need all four.”

She was exactly right. Humans absolutely have to have love. Infants that do not receive love die as surely as if they were denied food or water. We must have love!

This morning we will take a look at those four gifts:

I. Hope – hope is matured faith. Our faith reaches maturity after it has been tested and tried. James, the half-brother of Jesus told us (James1:2-4) to rejoice in our times of testing. In Romans 5:1-5 Paul states the same thing.

A hopeless person is in despair. They appear deeply depressed – because they are deeply depressed. If you have ever felt hopeless you understand how difficult that is. A terminally ill person without hope will die much sooner; with hope, some people actually recover!

Throughout modern history hope has helped many prisoners of survive the harsh conditions of their prison while their comrades in arms died even though they were in good health. We must have hope.

II. Peace – Knowing that God loves you and that He will take care of you no matter what the circumstances tell you.

When peace is gone, stress arrives. Stress disguises itself as inner turmoil, doubt and fear.

Stress (lack of peace) is the root cause of many of today’s illnesses. Peace is not something you buy. The nerve pills that many take only put the stress on the shelf for awhile. Now, if you are taking nerve pills (Anti-anxiety), do not quit without help from your physician. The medications buy you time to deal with the problem. You may need that!

True peace is always a benefit of a close walk with God.

Here are some of the diseases related to stress: (It is not a complete list)

Stress-related health problems:

1. Acid Peptic Disease; heartburn

2. Alcoholism

3. Asthma

4. Chronic Fatigue

5. Tension headaches

6. High Blood Pressure – This can lead to strokes and kidney failure

7. Insomnia – not enough rest with all of its complications

8. Irritable Bowel Syndrome

9. Heart diseases

10. Psychoneuroses

11. Sexual dysfunction

12. Several skin diseases

IV. Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

This great chapter focuses on love. To summarize Paul’s opening lines, it goes like this: “Even if you have a powerful vocabulary that matches the angels, or even if you are a dynamic prophet, if it isn’t done in love it becomes arrogance.

“Well, you say, I have mountain-moving faith, I give to the poor and I am willing to give my life for the gospel! So? God is not impressed unless we walk in love… and love everybody!”

Paul concludes, “Love never fails. Even though prophecies and tongues pass away; even though knowledge passes away… we have to walk in love because ‘Love is more powerful than faith and hope.’

As our Granddaughter said, love does not replace faith and hope. It takes it all.

III. Joy – “The joy of the Lord is our strength” wrote Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 8:10)

The word “joy” is found 218 times in the Bible – in 210 verses. Several times the Bible states that God is our joy. Although life without joy may well be a shorter life it will actually seem much longer!

True joy cannot be manufactured. Rather, it has to come from deep within us and comes from peace with God, peace with ourselves, peace with our families, our friends and our situation in life. This does not mean that any of those relationships are perfect. It merely means that we are doing our best and forgiving everyone that needs forgiveness – even if the turkeys do not deserve it!

We need to realize that some of the problems we experience that appear to be lack of hope, peace, love and joy may actually be related to our health or our nutrition. For instance, the makers of sublingual B12 are convinced that their product may increase your joy, your happiness, your ability to think straight as well as your energy. In many cases they are right.

When you think about the miserable lives that alcoholics and drug addicts have you can see the results of no hope, no peace, no love, and no joy. Oh, those gifts may be available, but the addicts do not know how to receive them!

Luke 2:22-40

Now we read about two people that walked in hope, peace, love and joy. The Holy Family met them when they went to the Temple in Jerusalem. Who were they? Anna and Simeon.

Under Biblical law the firstborn male belonged to the Lord. The child was “bought back” by making a sacrifice to the Lord. Normally the family gave a sheep, but poor people sacrificed of a pair of doves or two young pigeons. The Levites actually served in the place of all the firstborn males in Israel. (Numbers 3:11-13; 8:17-18)

As Jesus was being consecrated Simeon walked into the Temple. He was an elderly man. God described as “righteous and devout.” He lived in close harmony with the Holy Spirit. In all probability he had interceded to God for many years seeking the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. God honored his faithfulness by promising him that he would not die before he saw the Messiah. When Simeon saw Jesus he rejoiced and stated that now he could depart in peace.

Anna was an 84-year-old widow. Her husband had died after 7 years of marriage. Rather than remarry she devoted her life to prayer in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple had apartments for women like this. The scripture tells us that she never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. When she joined the consecration ceremony “she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Paul instructed Timothy that the church was to take care of the widows that devoted their lives to God and prayer. Otherwise families were to support the widows (no social programs in place). Paul believed that young widows should remarry.

Why would God send Simeon and Anna to Mary and Joseph? God knew the battles that they faced. These experiences would help them through the tough time. This was one of those experiences that Mary meditated on and hid in her heart for future reference. Circumstances hack away at our faith. Dramatic experiences to remind us of our real purpose in life.

Simeon had both a blessing and a warning: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

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This year is almost over. 2008 will be history in just a few days. As the minute hand swings past the midnight hour on Wednesday, December 31^st it will suddenly become 2009.

The older folk used to say, “What’s done is done; you can’t change it.” So will it be when 2008 is over.

A new year is a good time to take personal inventory. Is your life full of love, joy, hope and peace? If not, now is a good time to receive those attributes. Actually, it is not that difficult!

His name is Jesus! No matter what the circumstances are in your life at this very moment – or during a future crisis – you can have love, joy, hope and peace if you have Jesus in your heart.

Recently I heard an interview of a pastor. During 2008 his church led his denomination in Western Oklahoma in the number of conversions. In a town of 3,000 people in western Oklahoma 28 people received Jesus Christ as their personal savior as a result of that church’s ministry.

The minister told his personal story. He was not converted until he was 31-years-old. He only went to church to keep his wife happy. But that day the Holy Spirit drew him to the altar where he gave his life to the Lord.

He said, “At the moment Jesus came in my life became complete."

You, too, can experience that love, joy, peace and hope!

The hope that no matter what happens to you, in the end, you win!

The love of God that sustains us at all times – and the love for people that makes life worthwhile!

The peace that gives us health and speeds our healing!

The joy that gives us strength to accomplish our tasks!

December 28, 2008