Three Important Things You Can Do At This Time of Year

Dear Friends:

Life moves fast. If we don’t take the time to chronicle the providences of God, we forget them. If we don’t take the time to say thank you to those who have invested in our lives, we actually cultivate a spirit of ingratitude in our own hearts. If we don’t stop and make sure that we have a spirit of forgiveness toward others, we grow bitter, we lose the capacity to move victoriously into the future, and our prayers are hindered.

Here is a little practice that I was taught and would like to share with you. Each year, during the last week of December, I would encourage you to do the following things.

I. Outline and Chronicle the
Many Providences of God
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (Hab. 33:2)
First, using simple bullet points, outline the key events for every week of every month of the year. Take the time to do the research which will help jog your memory and allow you to make an accurate record. I find that reviewing bills, blogs, journals, newspaper headlines, letters, and even organizing my photographs chronologically are enormously helpful tools. Those individuals who were faithful to journal or keep a diary will have little problem reconstructing key events. Give yourself a good week to reconstruct your own outline of the year. Also, by making this a family project, you will not only build your list with greater speed and precision, but (in the hands of a loving patriarch) the very act of chronicling the providences of God in your life is a blessed tool for family discipleship.

Every family will have a different set of priorities directing what they should record. In addition to recording the key events and providences of the year chronologically, I try to take the time with my family to record some of the following information on separate bullet lists:

Where did I/we travel?
What were the most important sermons I heard this year?
What books/articles did I write?
What significant household projects did we accomplish in 2009?
What were the most important meetings of the year?
What special friendships were made this year?
Which children lost teeth, and how many?
Who grew in physical stature, and how much did they grow?
Who learned to read this year?
What diet and physical exercise regimen did I maintain to honor “my temple”?
What books did I read? Did we read as a family? Did my children read?
What Scriptures did my family memorize?
What loved ones died this year?
What were the great personal/ministry/national tragedies and losses of the year?
What were the great personal/ministry/national blessings of the year?
What were my most significant failures/sins for the year 2009?
What commitments have I made to overcome sin in 2010?
What significant spiritual and practical victories did I experience?
In what tangible ways did I communicate gratitude to those who have blessed me and invested in my life?
What are the top ten themes of 2009 for my family?
II. Say ‘Thank You’ to
Those Who Have Invested in Your Life
[I] cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. (Eph. 1:16)
Whatever happened to the man who first opened to you the words of life from the Scripture? Where is the comrade, coach, or instructor who believed in you and helped you to accomplish a great goal? What about the Bible teacher whose careful handling of the Word opened up new vistas of understanding? Where is the friend who stood with you through thick and thin? Most importantly, what have you communicated to the mother who carried you in her womb, loved and nurtured you, or the father who labored to provide for and shepherd you?

When was the last time you responded to their investment in your life with gratitude, blessings, and even money? Jesus reminds us of those ungrateful recipients of blessing who simply went their way without demonstrating gratitude (Luke 17).

Before the year ends, make a list of two types of people: The first list are the names of people whose life, ministry, or personal investment in you have deeply touched you and changed your life. (In my case, the list includes parents, pastors, and even some teachers from the early years of my Christian walk that I did not meet until much later in my life, but whose books and tapes were crucial to my personal discipleship as a young Christian.) The second list should include those people who played the most significant role in your life in 2009.

Write a brief, meaningful letter to each of them. Be specific in your gratitude. Explain what they did for you and why it was important to you. Show them how they were God’s instrument of blessing in your own life. Pray over each letter, asking God to grant you rich insights on the character qualities of each individual and on the way those qualities changed your own life. Where appropriate, include a check or special token of appreciation that reflects your desire to show them, tangibly, that you recognize that you are in their debt. You cannot imagine the joy this will give to someone from your past who may think you have forgotten them. Give generously and without concern for getting a tax deduction. I strongly recommend sending money to your parents. Keep in mind that you will never be able to return their personal and financial investment in your life, except through your testimony of faithfulness, covenant keeping, and honor to the Lord.

Also, your children need to know the people who have blessed their parents. They need to see that Mom and Dad are grateful and generous. Share your letters with them. In our household, we ask our children to write to some of the people who have blessed Mommy and Daddy, because our children are the indirect recipients of these blessings on their parents.

This will take a day or two to complete. You may have twenty letters to write, but you will never regret saying “thank you.”

One last thought: One reason why Christians are often limited in vision, energy, and blessings is that, contrary to the Lord’s command, we are ungrateful, unforgiving, and bitter. Far too many who profess the name of Christ spend more time obsessing on those who have wronged them than rejoicing in those who have blessed them. Letters and tangible expressions of gratitude are not only pleasing to Christ, but an antidote to heart-sickness.

III. Forgive Those Who Have Wronged You
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21)
In the course of a year, it is possible to build up many offenses and personal grievances at others. Left unaddressed, these grievances fester and grow. They turn the heart black and the body weak. They foster a spirit of vengeance and misguided self-righteousness. The short of it is this: Unforgiveness leads to bitterness. Bitterness curdles the mind and the spirit.

Fresh starts and new years should begin with forgiveness for others. Having a genuine spirit of forgiveness towards those who have wronged us is a mark of biblical Christianity. It is an evidence that we have been redeemed, and that we are praying lawfully: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).

Successful Christians are men and women who are free from bitterness. They have learned the principle modeled by our Lord Jesus Christ who, while suffering death at the hands of people he had never wronged, was able to say “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24).

I have a dear preacher friend with a sterling reputation who was once grievously slandered. When asked about the wicked actions of the slanderers, he replied something to this effect:

Oh you don’t understand — I am far, far worse than my detractors realize. They may have gotten a lot of the specific facts wrong, but I am just thankful they don’t know how bad my heart truly is. God have mercy on me a sinner.
This man had victory over bitterness.

My father is another man who always appeared to have victory over bitterness. In fact, from my earliest days to the present, I have watched lesser men “twist the truths [he’s] spoken to make a trap for fools.” [i]

Early in my life when I was still in government schools, I would listen to my own teachers criticize before my class the work my father was doing for the President to dismantle a government agency which was at war with the family. I read untruthful articles and saw derogatory comics on the pages of the Washington Post picturing him as a caveman for his “prehistoric” views. When my father was a leader in the Republican Party in Massachusetts, a gangster repeatedly threatened the life of his family. I remember being a boy and having my father shield me from homosexual picketers and protesters that would follow him and our family around at public locations.

Most painful and difficult for many to forgive is betrayal and dishonor. But that is a mistake. Betrayal and dishonor probably exist in the lives of most men. And why should any Christian be denied in their lives what past generations of Christians — and our Lord and Savior Himself — patiently endured? To our shame, most of us have been on both sides of that coin. From a son’s perspective, however, it is highly instructive to watch a father act honorably in the midst of such conflict. It has been a great blessing in my own life to observe my father nobly respond even in the face of barbs from former allies and friends, once loved and nurtured by him.

Eternally optimistic, Dad would always say: “Never be bitter. Life is too short. Thank God for your blessings. Press on!”

Bitterness comes from being unwilling to forgive. Bitter people are small people. They are unsuccessful people. They are people who cannot move forward. They are people who believe that the personal wrongs against them are so great that they — the offended — are entitled to do to their offenders what they pray the Lord Jesus Christ will never do to them: refuse to forgive.

Here is my recommendation: Think through every grief, minor and major, caused by others to you in the year 2009. Now add to the list any other personal offenses that continue to linger from past years. Write these down as bullets on a sheet of paper.

The first thing you will likely realize is just how many offenses are polluting your thought life and, probably, your spirit. This is a sign of latent bitterness. Bitterness will kill you. It renders you completely ineffective.

Now prayerfully walk through the list — bullet, by bullet. With each offense, remind yourself that the most despicable action taken against you by another utterly (and infinitely) pales in comparison to the least of your offenses against the Lord Jesus Christ.

And yet He has forgiven you.

Before 2010 begins, adopt a spirit of forgiveness towards your insensitive friends as well as your hateful enemies. Forgive your imperfect father for whatever it is you need to forgive him for (and pray to the Lord that your own children someday forgive you for your failures). Quit devoting untold precious hours to commiseration, mental replay of the wrongs done, and thoughts about just how badly you were wronged. Stop blaming everybody but you for your problems. Look to yourself. Once you start chronicling your own sinful attitudes and crimes against God and man, you simply won’t have time to worry about the wrongs done to you. You will stop being bitter, and you will start being thankful.

Wipe the slate clean. “Press on.” Forgive.

Conclusion
As 2009 comes to a close, take time to remember and to say “thank you.” Take time to examine yourself for bitterness. Forgive others. Finally, as you love God with all your heart, soul and might, trust Him, too. Really trust him. Trust God with all your heart, your soul and might. You and I can not solve every problem. What we can do is be kind, forgiving, and patient before the Lord. We can not “fix” everything that is broken. Only God can do that. In His time and His way, the Lord can not only bring peace, but He can give you the very desires of your heart as you seek Him with integrity. He can redeem the years the locusts have eaten, and He delights in blessing his faithful children. “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” (Proverbs 10:22).

It is appropriate that we stop and thank God at the birth of a new year. Remember that God gave man the stars on Day Four in part so that he could order and structure his life based on a clock/calendar system of days, seasons, and years (Genesis 1). He tells us to “remember” acts and to “number” our days. In Scripture, the formal act of remembering providences of God in our life is linked to hope, honor, and generational success (e.g., Psalms 44, 78, etc.). By February 2010, the year 2009 will be a distant memory. Strike now while the iron is hot. The opportunity to remember and to say “thank you” may never come again. And can you afford even one more day in which your prayers are hindered — because you were refusing to forgive? Trust the Lord. He is in charge: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5).

Doug Phillips
President, Vision Forum Ministries

Historical Hymn Issues

Over the centuries there have been a number of issues confronting the church with regard to sacred music. Sometimes these have aroused contention and rancour. But even when this has not happened, local congregations have needed to decide on what their policy will be. Here are several of the issues involved.

Issue #1 – The Use of Instruments
Nothing is said of musical instruments being used in the worship of the New Testament church. In fact, the early church fathers (Clement of Alexandria, Chrysostum, Ambrose, and Augustine) strongly opposed the use of instruments in sacred singing. This is in spite of the fact that extensive use was made of instrumental music in the Jewish temple (I Chron. 25:6-7, etc.) and we are told the heavenly courts will resound with music accompanied by “harps” (Rev. 5:8; 14:2; 15:2-3).

Israel had been more or less a homogeneous cultural unit, with some consensus as to the meaning of its music. The church, made up of many nations, is quite different. After Pentecost, believers had to be concerned with how their practices were being received and understood by a diversity of cultural groups. Since there is nothing in the New Testament that forbids the use of instruments in Christian worship, it is likely that in those times instrumental music had, for many, a strong association with pagan worship, or sensual activities that Christians wanted to avoid. In The Ministry of Music (p. 50), Ken Osbeck states that “instrumental music was associated with boisterous Roman paganism.”

Currently, most churches do not have a problem with instrumental music, if it appropriately and effectively supports congregational singing. But we must still be cautious of the danger of seeking to entertain, rather than edify, and of the possibility of secular associations tainting our music.

Issue #2 – Congregational Singing
Pope Gregory I (540-604) disapproved of congregational singing. In his time, much of the music of the church was turned over to the priests. As well, the formal liturgy of the “Mass” took shape. Attending church involved more observation than participation in singing God’s praises. There is some beautiful church music from the Middle Ages, but it was largely written for trained choirs, not the congregation. It took the Reformation to restore hymn singing to the people. This is an avenue of fellowship the people of God should carefully guard.

Issue #3 – Non-biblical Lyrics
One of the prominent arguments of an earlier time–along with whether to use musical instruments or not–was over what should be sung. Some said only Scripture should be sung by God’s people. Others said that newer songs could be used as well. (This debate actually continued off and on for over a thousand years.) To show how seriously this was taken, consider what happened to the bishop of Antioch, in 260 A.D. He was hauled into court, accused of “suppressing the chanting of psalms.” His defence was that he only meant to forbid the singing of new songs. On that basis, he was acquitted!

Isaac Watts, known as “the father of English hymnody,” finally convinced the church of his day that it was appropriate to introduce new hymns not directly taken from the Word of God. Since his day, thousands of wonderful hymns and gospel songs have been written, songs that have greatly blessed the church.

Issue #4 – The Use of Secular Tunes
In the early 1800’s, another controversy surfaced which has never been entirely resolved. A man named Joshua Leavitt published a hymnal in which the words were set to well-known secular melodies of the day. This is not the first or last time this was done. A number of hymn tunes we use are taken from secular sources. (Far fewer than some would contend, but most hymnals do contain a few.)

There is nothing inherently wrong with doing that. But one danger we must guard against is using tunes which are associated in people’s minds with lyrics or activities that dishonour God. In the words of one critic, Leavitt’s tunes were “current love songs, vulgar melodies of the street, the circus and the ballroom.” It was to combat this perceived drift into secularism that Lowell Mason and Thomas Hastings published several new hymn books for church use, with tunes that had been written specifically for use with hymns.

Issue #5. The Place of Traditional Hymns Today
I’ve been a pastor, and a church musician, for about 40 years. But in recent years I’ve observed a disturbing trend–the abandonment of the hymn book. It’s either left to gather dust in the pew. Or taken away altogether, replaced with songs projected on the wall. Mostly a multitude of simple choruses.

Well, something else was written on a wall, many centuries ago: “You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting” (Dan. 5:27). I just wonder if those words won’t be written one day about the modern church. Some of the newer songs are fine, of course. And they’d work if they were occasionally included in a service. But there are churches sing them exclusively–and repetitiously.

Among the reasons given for the change, we are told that hymns are so old fashioned, and out of date we can’t understand them. But most hymns are understandable with a bit of explanation. Maybe the lack of understanding comes from a lack of spiritual insight–or from a lack of proper education. Don’t capitulate, educate! We still study authors like William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens. Why not study the work of our hymn writers? Truth is never out of date!

I don’t know what the practice of your church is, but I beg you not to discard the hymn book! It’s so important to our Christian faith. We need to preserve the wonderful heritage of sacred music that’s been developed by the church, over 2,000 years. And that means not abandoning the old songs. They’re a part of our history. They’ve comforted and challenged the saints for generations. Used with care, they can do so again.

~ by Robert Cottrill

Discovering the Songs of Christmas by Robert Cottrill

Discovering the Songs of Christmas
Meditations on Our Traditonal Carols and Christmas Hymns
Author: Robert Cottrill
(Book Excerpt/ Release Date: December 2009)

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I.


A N T I C I P A T I O N


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

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It Began As One Word

As with other hymns, the origins of our Christmas carols are varied and sometimes quite interesting. But few have a more unusual history than this first selection. It began as one single word! On occasion, I’ve asked a congregation to guess what they thought that word might be. They suggested such terms as Jesus, birth, manger, Mary, and Immanuel. But all are incorrect.

The carol is “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” (alternately spelled Immanuel). To trace the song’s beginnings, we have to go back about fourteen centuries to the early Middle Ages. Each day during the week before Christmas, churches of that era read what is called the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise recorded in Luke 1:46–55. Before and after the reading, vocalists sang an antiphon, with choral groups answering back and forth. (This is called antiphonal or responsive singing.) The antiphon anticipating the birth of Christ consisted of a single word—a long, drawn out “O.” Known as the “Great O of Advent,” it was intended to express a hopeful yearning for the coming of the Messiah.

In most Bibles we simply need to turn a page or two to get from Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, to Matthew, the first in the New. But a great deal of time passed between them. Malachi prophesied concerning the work of John the Baptist (Mal. 3:1; cf. Matt. 11:10), but it was four more centuries before he came on the scene. Sometimes those years are referred to as the “400 Silent Years,” since it seems no inspired prophecy came from God during that time. No doubt the silence stirred a growing sense of anticipation among the saints. When would the Lord fulfill the prophecies given so long before? When would the Promised One come?

In Jerusalem, two who wondered and hoped for the coming Messiah were elderly Simeon and Anna. The Bible says Simeon was “waiting for the Consolation [the Consoler] of Israel.” And when he saw the baby Jesus he confessed that he could “depart in peace” because “My eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:25, 29–30). Widowed Anna lived in the temple complex, giving herself to fasting and prayer. When she saw the infant Jesus, she “spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (vv. 37–38).

A kind of spiritual hunger among the people of God was evident in Israel before Jesus was born. Faithful saints were waiting and looking earnestly for His coming. Their zealous devotion was later given voice in the Great O of Advent. In his book, Great Hymns, hymn historian W. J. Limmer Shepppard describes it as almost “a cry of distress.” (1923, 21) It expressed an urgent plea for deliverance from on high.

As time went by, various unknown individuals added other words to the “O” for each of the seven days it was used. Each became a unique prayer, incorporating a description of the Lord Jesus. “O Key of David, unlock the prison house” was sung on one day and “O Dayspring, come and give us light” on another. Finally, someone thought of combining the antiphons into a single Latin hymn. Then in 1851 John Mason Neale (1818–1856) translated the words of the song into English giving us the carol “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”


Neale’s great gift to the Christian church was his translation work. He brought to English-speaking Christians some of the treasury of Greek and Latin hymns from long ago. This one anticipates the Christmas season, saying in one stanza,

O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;

From depths of hell Thy people save

And give them victory o’er the grave.

The Lord Jesus was born to do just that! As the Bible declares, “O Death, where is your sting? . . . Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor. 15:55, 57). Through faith in the salvation purchased on Calvary we can be saved eternally.

The Welkin Rings adapted as Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

The Welkin Rings

The first time I walked through the crowded, pungent streets of Bethlehem, I was struck by the disparity between what I was seeing and "the little town of Bethlehem" I had spent my life imagining in pageants and songs. The harsh reality of God becoming a child in the midst of the cold and dark world I knew myself suddenly seemed a blaring proclamation: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. It is little wonder some of the most theology-rich hymns are Christmas carols. In a darkened world not unlike this one, two thousand years ago, God came in person.

Almost immediately after his conversion, Charles Wesley took to hymn writing as a way to capture the hope of God's nearness persistently stirring in his mind. Though a few of the words have long since been changed, one of his 6,000 hymns is a widely beloved declaration of the Incarnation. Seeking to convey in pen and ink a Christmas story both familiar to our hearts and startling in its wonder, Wesley wrote:

Hark, how all the welkin rings,
"Glory to the King of kings;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
Universal nature say,
"Christ the Lord is born to-day!"

The Christ child in the manger is forever an indication of the great lengths God will go to reconcile his creation, a savior willing to descend that we might be able to ascend. "Welkin" is an old English term meaning "the vault of heaven." In this dramatic word, Wesley illustrates the crux of Christian theology: All of heaven opened up for the birth of a king and the rebirth of humanity. The vault of God was thrown open to make way for the one who was coming and all that would come as a result of it.

Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die;
born to raise the sons of earth;
born to give them second birth.

The Incarnation is the timeless reminder that God speaks and the world is moved. While the Christmas story reports the massive hope that God came near, the incredible signs of sanctification show that God has chosen to remain. Wesley saw this intimate connection between God's nearness and our likeness. Where God comes near, countenances are changed.

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman's conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent's head.
Now display thy saving power,
ruined nature now restore;
now in mystic union join
thine to ours, and ours to thine.

The startling hope of the Incarnation reorders the world we know.
Where there is despair, where there is joy, where there is need, Christ is living.
Where there is a heart that will prepare him room, a life is transformed in his image.
Come, Desire of nations, come; fix in us thy humble home.
These cries have been heard.
A savior was born.
The vault of heaven is open.



Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.