More Than Bread

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Luke's gospel is filled with seekers? Are you a seeker? Probably at heart we're all seekers.  We're all on a quest.  We may each give the quest a different name.  The quest for meaning, the quest for purpose, the quest for knowledge, the quest for security, the quest for success, the quest for pleasure. But  I want to suggest that the longing behind every quest is the same.

C.S. Lewis speaks about this longing in his book Mere Christianity, "If I find in myself a desire for which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most  probable explanation is that I was made for another world." You were made for another world, and our hearts won't be satisifed till we find Jesus! 

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Some sociologists suggest that we are in a season where disappointment is the primary American emotion. We expected life to be always up and to the right, and then it wasn't. And even if it is, social media reminds us every day that it's not as far up and to the right as someone elses. But what if disappointment is a good thing? What if dasappointment is a signal from our soul that our hope is misplaced? What if our disappointment is the gentle whisper of the Spirit of God inviting us to reset our hope? 

What if the next chapter of God's story requires a resetting of our hope? Not putting our hope in progress; or the economy; politics or education, or even good ol' American ingenuity; a full reset. 

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Can I tell you something?  It's not just the birth of Jesus that draws our hearts at Christmas.  It's not just that Jesus lived and died; it's how he lived and why he died, that draws a life-weary world to celebrate Christmas.  The greatest gift ever given, the most uncommon Christmas gift ever given was not found under a tree, it was found on a tree. Jesus was born to die. 

But it was not a tragedy. It was His gift. It was His uncommon Christmas gift...of life to us. It was the greatest gift ever given!

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In Luke 22, we experience a difficult moment between Peter and Jesus. Peter was a guy who experienced as much breakthrough as anyone in the Bible, but he was also a guy who experienced failure. Broken fragments of life, crippled heart, feeling like he would never be enough, all moments that Peter experienced. Think about this. He walked on water, was in Jesus' inner circle, and one night promised Jesus to follow him to prison or death. "Where you go, I go." Jesus answered, "Peter before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, three times, you will deny  that you even know me." 

And he did. But don't miss this, Jesus knew. Jesus knew that Peter would fail. He
knows I'm gonna fail. Christmas is not reserved for those who never fail. Because He still gives hope to the broken.

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There’s something in our hearts that longs for family. Is that part of the draw of Christmas? We long to be part of a family. We long to connect and when we connect there are such amazing opportunities to thrive, to bless and be blessed. So in Luke 22, we're going to look at the beginning of a new chapter in Christmas family of Jesus. It's a meal around the table with friends who would soon become family. And it's an opportunity to ponder the relentlessly lavish, recklessly passionate love of Jesus for us.

If we miss His heart, we miss Christmas. Listen, if you have given your life to Christ, you are part of His family. What an amazing Christmas gift!

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A lot of Luke 21 sounds at least a bit like the book of Revelation. If you have been joining us in person or online at Calvary, you know we’ve been spending time, this Christmas season, in the book of Revelation. Our advent series theme has been “More to Come.” You know I didn’t realize till I started prepping for that series, that the birth of Christ was not a big month long celebration in the life of the early church. They were so busy looking ahead to and for his second coming that they didn’t spend as much time on his first coming. 

Luke 21, describes the time of his second coming as a time of "shaking." And in some ways it makes me wonder if it isn't the case, that every time God shows up, stuff starts to get shaken up! Maybe a whole lot of shaking going on is a good thing?

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Here's the deal. Jesus was born to die. The manger led to the cross and the cross was the ultimate blow-out love-burst of God. But we never would've known that without the resurrection. Before the resurrection, from our perspective the cross was nothing more than abounding despair, unmerciful judgement and victorious evil. The resurrection changed the cross from a symbol of deep despair to a symbol of ultimate hope. An ultimate hope that is built upon a deep, deep love. 

There's no Christmas without the resurrection. The world does not go into a global celebration for people who died so long ago. But Jesus still lives, and Jesus still loves, and so we celebrate. 

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Yes, that's right. I'm sorry. I know it's supposed to be a chapter a day. 24 chapters. 24 days from December 1 to Christmas Eve. But I just couldn't leave Luke 19. So now we are a chapter off and you'll have something to listen to on Christmas Day!

I couldn't leave Luke 19 without pausing on Palm Sunday. It's a Palm Sunday moment on the way to preparing for Christmas. AND this Palm Sunday moment will give us some Christmas Prep questions as it gives us a glimpse of Jesus' heart!

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After the last episode and its focus on someone who missed Christ, who you might say, missed Christmas, we can’t skip Zachaeus; the wee little man, his tree, and the celebration in his home. Zach is a guy who got it, a guy who didn’t miss Christ and you might even say, didn't miss the true meaning of Christ-mas! And through his story, we are going to ponder the love of God. Listen, the love of God, found in Jesus, poured out by the Spirit has this ability to change us; give you a
courageous self-confidence and contentment all at the same time. Paul describes this love in Ephesians 1:3-5 with one phrase in particular that stirs up Christmas joy in me. 

Paul writes, "Without a single fault we stand before Him, covered in His love. "His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by sending Jesus to die for us. And He did this because He wanted to..."

You are covered in His love this Christmas...what more could we need?

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In this episode we are going to hear Jesus say something quite interesting to a rich, young leader. This leader wants to follow Jesus and so he comes to Jesus to ask what he needs to do and Jesus says, "You only lack one thing." Now before you hear what he lacks, let me just say as we prep for Christmas, wouldn't it be great if that were really true? If this Christmas we only lacked one thing?

But what if it's true? If you only lacked one thing; if there was one thing that you could gain, one gift that you could receive, that would bring  you the life of your dreams, what would it be?

Listen in on this conversation between Jesus and someone who seems like they've got everything, but still they are lacking one thing. BUT the goodness is, it's only thing...