Advent – Week 4 Message
Hello. I am Rick Merfeld. Welcome to the final message in our special Advent series of spiritual first aid for believers and seekers. And Merry Christmas! We arrived at the fourth week of Advent, had a cup of coffee, and jumped right into the celebration of Christmas. What will you remember most about Christmas 2023?
It’s only Christmas Day plus three but the festivities, music, and Christmas feelings are already fading away. And the new year is just around the corner. Let’s be clear. If the good news of Christmas has left its mark, it won’t be the feelings that carry us through the new year; it will be the impact of Christmas on our mindset, worldview, and daily habits. In short, it won’t be our emotions, but our reason that will help us navigate 2024.
The first goal of our series was to help listeners be more confident in the story of God. Are you more confident today than you were at Thanksgiving time?
Our second goal was to help everyone better understand where each of us fits into the story of God and how Satan is trying to trip us up. 1 Peter 5:8 encourages us to “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Emotions make life delicious, but reason makes life safe.
~Greg Koukl
My first professional call was to the world of mental health care. This time of the year, I become especially aware that we are moving into the season of depression and increased suicides. Sadly, people will put away their Christmas lights at the very time when they need the light of Christ to fight off the approaching darkness.
Are you more aware of your struggles than you were at Thanksgiving time? Are you more aware of how Satan is trying to trip up your family members and friends?
The third goal was to equip people to share the Good News of Christmas more compassionately and effectively. I hope you added a few tools to your spiritual first aid kit.
Here’s the post-Christmas quiz: did the Advent season and the celebration of Christmas impact you in a special way this year? Do you believe that the gift of Christ can make a difference for your loved one’s next year?
Let’s keep this real, friends. If we answered “no”, we’d be better off just having fun and sharing our favorite Christmas stories. I would share the story of our boys building a model drone. They flew it around the house, as everyone ducked for cover. Then they took it outside where the wind carried it up over the neighbor’s house and across the street. It was a hoot! Well, all of it besides the part when our 3-year-old biffed on the driveway trying to keep up. He cried until “Granna” got him all bandaged up and back on his feet.
If we don’t think the peace of Christ and the power of the Gospel can help anyone, it would be easier and probably more fun to talk with our family and friends about their work, hobbies, or what series they are binging on right now. But will any of that help them climb their mountains and face their giants? Will this help them restore harmony with God and secure their eternal life in a good neighborhood?
But if you answered yes, and if you have a growing confidence in the truth of God’s story and the power of Christ then let’s keep going and wrap up the series with our Week 4 message.
From our growing awareness of our own spiritual conditions and those of our loved ones, we made out our spiritual gift lists in Week Three. It’s time to wrap up those gifts for delivery. This involves going a little deeper to discover how we can compassionately and effectively share the Good News. This is about each of us finding our spiritual V-O-I-C-E.
This is an acronym where…
The V stands for validating the message of Christ in our own life
The O stands for opportunities to share the good news
The I stands for individual traits and people skills
The C stands for communion with the full council of the Bible
And the E stands for experiences
Finding our VOICE starts with validating the message of Christ in our own life. On a scale of 1-10, to what degree are you caught up in Christ? Is this statement true or false: Only in the name of Jesus can our sins be forgiven, our harmony restored with God, and our eternal life secured. These are not hostile questions. This is about personal spiritual triage.
I love the story in Mark 9: 14-24. A man brought his ill child to Jesus after the disciples were unable to heal the child. Jesus asked the man, “’If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes’. Immediately, the man cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.’” The more we understand our situation, the more focused we can be moving forward.
The V in V-O-I-C-E is for validating the message of Christ in our life. The “O” stands for opportunities.
Do you have regular contact with the people on your spiritual gift list? Or are you cut off? If we are cutoff, then our sole source of spiritual first-aid is prayer. Pray that God will put a reunion on your calendar. And never, ever, give up on Jesus. I’ve seen too many situations and heard too many stories to give up.
If you have regular contact with the people on your list, work on being comfortable remaining in conversations. Develop your confidence to ask good questions and give good answers. Don’t step away from the table and extinguish the light of Christ. My friend Char began implementing these simple strategies. Within three weeks, she was reporting positive changes with two of her three adult sons. And she was feeling a new sense of confidence and hope for her entire family.
Look for opportunities to help people, especially your children and grandchildren, to understand their values and learn how to share them with their friends. Help them write out responses to the questions they will be asked and then practice. Help them be ready to stand up for their faith.
V is for validation; O is for opportunities. The I in V-O-I-C-E stands for individual traits and people skills.
Christian author Marita Littauer, in her book Wired that Way, points out that God wired us with different personality strengths and characteristics. But she also reminds us that each of us have weaknesses, too. Our goal is to maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses.
If you were to ask a family member or friend what it’s like to interact with you, what would they say? What do you do well? What do you do that makes things uncomfortable? This is about vulnerability. This is about checking in with people to find out what kind of magnetic force you produce. For years I repelled people when I wanted to attract people.
Ask God to help you sand off any rough edges so you can be more compassionate and more effective in sharing your faith with others.
V is for validation; O is for opportunities; I is for individual traits and people skills. The C in V-O-I-C-E stands for communion with the full council of the Bible. There are decision points as we read God’s Word. The first one is this: are we reading the Bible to find out what it says? Or are we reading the bible to find out where it says what we want it to say?
In a world hell-bent on living according to earth-bound wisdom; in a world where moral relativism encourages people to define their own truth; and in a world where some organized church leaders put themselves at odds with biblical truth, we can turn to God’s Word which is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
In Week Two of our series, we were invited to take the 7-day Christmas Gospel challenge. As we move into the new year, I encourage you to continue your studies. If you are not sure where to start, I suggest you begin with the Gospel of John. Reading the Bible is like getting on a merry-go-round. There is no right place to start. The important thing is to get on and get going.
Finally, the E in V-O-I-C-E is for experiences. The best story we can share with people is our own. In his book, How to Share Your Faith with Anyone, Terry Barber shares a good list of dos and don’ts. Do share your personal walk with the Lord, and the reasons you love connecting with your church; share your story of conversion, and about God’s call and your vocation; know your audience and look them in the eye. Barber also warns us not to be a know-it-all, be longwinded, speak poorly of others, or glamourize sin.
By finding and fine-tuning our V-O-I-C-E, we can wrap up our spiritual gifts and give them to ourselves and others this Christmas season. We can also draw nearer to God and ask Christ Jesus to help us more compassionately and effectively share the good news of Christ with your family members, friends, and maybe even a stranger or two.
I hope our time together has been part support group and part battlefield briefing. These can be challenging times. There will be celebrations and morning. Take a deep breath. From time to time, rest. God does some of His best work in challenging times! And be encouraged by the words of Billy Graham. “The same fire that hardens clay, melts butter.”
Thanks for joining us as we build an army of spiritual first responders.