Seminary Viewpoints

Our Christmas Gift: The Messiah We Need

Are your congregants or counselees getting the Messiah they wanted this Christmas?

This Viewpoint blog post is a companion to the December 22 episode of the Theologically Speaking podcast featuring BJU Seminary professors Sam Horn and Stuart Scott.

Takeaways:

1. Many congregants and counselees in this Christmas season are looking for a “small-j” Jesus bringing a “small-g” gospel of deliverance from their earthly suffering, be it emotional, physical, financial or spiritual.
2. But these “thorns in the flesh” may not be removed, as earthly thorns were part of the curse pronounced upon humankind in the garden, and Christians are called to suffering.
3. The literal Good News: Christians may not get The Messiah we want for Christmas, but have already received the Messiah we need: one who offers not earthly liberation but eternal life.
4. As those involved in shepherding and soul care, we can and should encourage our charges to look to and align to that Messiah’s provision and purpose.

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As we come this week to Christmas – commemorating the moment in which God sent His Son to be incarnated – we want to consider some less conventional passages for this season that address a critical question facing pastors and others involved in soul care:

Are your congregants or counselees getting the Messiah they wanted this Christmas?

A Despairing Inquiry

In both Matthew 11 and Luke 7, John the Baptist is in a dire predicament. He’s been proclaiming Jesus, but now he is in prison and the Lord doesn’t seem remotely interested in the issues John cares about: Herod taking his brother’s wife, the Roman occupation, or delivering this devoted servant from his cell and imminent execution. 

So even though John has known Jesus all his life and even declared Him, in a richly theologically-laden statement, to be “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” in his despair he sends two disciples to pose a poignant inquiry: are you really He who is to come? Or should we look for someone else?

Many disappointed church members and soul-care beneficiaries are asking that question this Christmas. They harbored great expectations in embracing Jesus as their personal Savior. But now He doesn’t seem concerned about their personal needs or missions: A better marriage. Kids who are a mess. Cancer or other infirmity. Financial difficulties. A psychological need to be loved, for self-esteem, for a purpose in life.

They believe they need – but in reality, want – a Messiah to deliver them. And like John, wonder why that Messiah hasn’t shown up.

A “Small-j” Jesus and “Small-g” Gospel

In reality, many in your care are looking for “someone else.” The Apostle Paul warned:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 2 Corinthians 11:3-4

Rather than the true Gospel of salvation, they’re creating their own, “small-j” Jesus bringing a “small-g” temporal, psychological, or perhaps even prosperity gospel.

A Painful Reality: The “Thorn” of Suffering is Central to the Christian Experience

In fact, just as John was not delivered from prison or even death, the true Gospel specifically includes suffering as central to the Christian experience. Peter writes:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you… 1 Peter 4:12

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 1 Peter 2:21

And Paul related his own suffering:

…there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Paul didn’t get the Messiah he wanted either! Moreover, it’s significant that Paul refers to his infirmity, whatever form it took, as a “thorn.” The thorn was a core element of the curse pronounced upon all humankind after the serpent “beguiled Eve:”

…cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee…. Genesis 3:17-18

The painful reality: that many of those coming to pastors and counselors in physical, psychological, financial and spiritual pain will not see those thorns removed, despite our own best efforts and expertise. Their relationships may not be restored; physical infirmity relieved; minds fully renewed; financial problems completely resolved, or purpose clearly revealed.

The Good News (Literally): The Messiah We Need

So where does that leave us as shepherds and life guides in ministering to these members of our flocks?

With Good News – literally: we may not get The Messiah we want for Christmas. But we have already received The Messiah we need.

That Anointed One affirmed His identity – and His ultimate purpose – in pointing to the Messianic miracles foretold of Him and the focus of His ministry:

… tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.

Luke 7:22

And then took on an entire crown of thorns on His way to a cross and an empty tomb where He delivered not earthy liberation, but eternal life.

That Messiah came at Christmas, as it has been written, to reverse an ancient curse, to redeem an ancient race and to remove an ancient enemy.

That’s the deliverance we can encourage those we watch over to look and align to, putting their temporary sufferings and disappointments in the context of eternity and The Messiah’s bigger mission and purpose.

Paul, again, expresses that heaven-focused perspective:

… though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

…Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9b

Let’s make this Christmas season, and the New Year to follow, a time of rededication to the purposes of “The Messiah we need” and the renewal of that “inward man” as we express, live out – and share – that future hope.

Further Resources:

1. Stuart Scott, God’s Will: Deliverance or Dependence? – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
2. Stuart Scott, How to Be Strengthened in a Trial
3. Sam Horn, “Above All, Pray!,” BJU Seminary Viewpoint