A world renowned leader has said for years, “I’ll see you at the top!” Should this be our mantra as believers? Should we strive to reach the top? How does one get there anyway? Hard work? Intellect? Connections? Money? Charisma? How does one ascend to the top? Jesus provided a glimpse of a path to greatness desired by few. His path involved: Pain, Ridicule, Lonliness, Poverty, Hatred and Death.

Paul in the second chapter of Philippians writes what is known as the earliest Christological hymn ever recorded. Paul’s verbiage is written in a style that could easily be sung and was often repeated by the early church. This scripture is known as the Kenotic Passage because of its use of the unique and rarely used word “Kenosis”. This Greek term means “self-emptying” and is used to describe the Incarnation of Jesus. This act of self-abnegation in which Jesus shed the glory He had enjoyed for all eternity was the single greatest act of humility the world has ever known. Jesus Descended Into Greatness! Wow! What a thought in our current culture where it is all about me. Jesus was not trying to find the right ladder for success. He was not trying to connect with the right individual to take Him to the top or bribe His way into a position of authority. He humbled Himself to the point of obedience and renounced His privileges of having heavenly glory, independent authority, Divine prerogatives and eternal riches for the purpose of Descending Into Greatness.

Consider the following steps that Christ undertook during the kenosis (self-emptying) and exaltation as seen in Philippians 2:

• Christ Jesus is God (2:5-6a)
• He descended to earth and because subservient to humanity (2:6b-7)
• He died a horrible death (2:8)
• He ascended to heaven and became a superior to humanity (2:9)
• Jesus Christ is acknowledged as God (2:10-11)

Questions remain as we stand at the precipice overlooking 2010:

• Are we willing to Descend into Greatness by humbly serving others?
• Are we willing to Descend into Greatness by humbly sharing Jesus with others.
• Are we willing to Descend into Greatness by humbly worshipping God in all  and for all of His glory?
• Are we willing to Descend into Greatness by humbly setting aside our privileges for the sake of the Great Commission?

True greatness always begins with humility, always involves sacrifice and always ends with Jesus. While the saying, “I will see you at the top” resonates with our fleshly desires, the typical pathway fails to follow that of Christ. I pray that 2010 will see Christ followers pursue Jesus’ example and Descend into Greatness!

You have my prayers and my thoughts as we press toward Christlikeness in 2010. May we descend together!

Happy New Year!

If you are like me I have lost my car keys a million times. I used to think that there were small aliens in my home who would hide my keys and then enjoy watching me search for them. It seems like as we get older we forget a whole lot more. Like for instance, we forget where we place things, peoples names, how something works, and then we get frustrated with ourselves. However, the Bible tells us it is a good thing to forget. Thats right, sometimes the Bible encourages us to forget what is behind us. Many times we get stuck in life because we just can’t let go of something. Sometimes it’s an episodic memory or an expectation we have. The book of Philippians chapter 3:12-14 says,

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It’s true that we can’t live our lives always looking backward. In order to focus we must look forward and embrace what lies ahead. One of the greatest examples of this in the Bible was Joseph. After all he endured from his own family members and being in prison the Lord gave him a son and he named him Manasseh saying

“It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” Genesis 41:51.

What a real blessing it is to forget! As you think about this past year, don’t get too hung up on all you have endured or achieved, instead “press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward.” Remember it’s God who holds tomorrow, not us. By the way, if you can’t find your car keys try looking in your front pocket. Been there, done that!

I preached yesterday from Galatians 6:7-10 about “Reaping and Sowing in 2010.” I fear that we often get frustrated or blame God for where we are or end up in life, when really we are simply reaping what we have sown in our lives. I guess I could say, I think we’re too spiritual at times. We ponder our situation and think, why would God do this to me? In reality, we did it to ourselves.

Galatians 6 lays out a very simple yet powerful principle: You reap what you sow. As we face a new year and think towards New Year’s resolutions, we need to think Biblically. We need to examine every area of our lives and determine what we are sowing. In verse 8 Paul basically says: “If you sow to the flesh, you will reap corruption.” In other words, if you sow sin in 2010, your life is going to be messed up. At that point there is no reason to look towards heaven and shake your fist at God, but rather to look in the mirror and reflect how our sowing sin has brought corruption.

Paul continues by explaining, “If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life.” (Floyd paraphrase) If we sow repentance and faith towards Jesus to save us, He will give us eternal life. We will reap a changed life that begins to bear fruit for the name and glory of Jesus. We will reap eternal blessings that are the result of a life focused on Heaven rather than the temporal things of this world.

In conclusion, what will you sow this year? If you sow to the Spirit, practicing obedience to God’s Word and holy living, chances are you are going to reap an eternally blessed year. On the other hand, if you sow sin this year, you will likely look back on 2010 as a year of regret and heartache after seeing the brutal effects of sin upon your life. It’s your choice. What will you sow in 2010?

I feel overwhelmed with joy as I write this post. My heart is grateful for the Lord’s provision. I certainly don’t deserve the blessed life He has given me.

On this day, sixteen years ago, I became spiritually alive. The Father made me a new creation. Through Jesus I won total victory.

This Christmas I have a new son. My life is different. My perspective has been transformed by a new love, unique to this little boy.

The night I experienced salvation, my father was reading the story of The Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke. Though I had heard it several times before, the Spirit illumined new truths. I saw the Father’s forgiveness in contrast to the outright rebellion of the son.

I look at Will, my 6 day old son, and a wonderful, new love flows from the wellspring of my heart, the Source being Christ Jesus.

Christmas is a celebration of new life. The celebration of a Savior who emptying himself, laid aside a throne, a crown, and robe. Amazingly, He traded heaven for a manger, rags, and a tiny human body. What a sacrifice of love!

The love the Father had for His Son is beyond our understanding. That He was willing to send Jesus to rescue us exceeds all human comprehension.

Christmas means different things to different people. But to me it means new life. It’s all around me.

It is seen in the birth of my son. It is remembered in the celebration of my salvation. It is proclaimed through the heavens and the earth, Jesus is everything.

He has come to bring new life.

As a child, one of my favorite things to do around this time of year was coming up with my Christmas list. I can remember spending hours going through catalogues and ads in the newspaper trying to create the perfect list with the hope that when Christmas day came, there might be a few of my choices under the tree. For most of my life, I never realized that God had included a list in His Christmas story as well. Although we often miss it, the book of Matthew begins not with the birth of Jesus but with a list.

This list is clearly different than most of ours. While we list numerous “things” that we want, God used his list to describe the type of people He had used to usher in the birth of Jesus. A few of these people wouldn’t have been a surprise as he included some of the great men of the Old Testament such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David.

Then, out of nowhere, God did something very interesting with his list. He began to include some unexpected names of people that nobody would have guessed to be the genealogy of Jesus. He included Tamar, a woman known for her deception in the book of Genesis. Next came Rahab, a known prostitute that God chose to use in the book of Joshua. Later came an outsider named Ruth, who had not even known there was a God most of her life but was welcomed nonetheless by a man named Boaz. Finally, He included a woman named Bathsheba, a woman known more for her adultery than any of her other actions in Scripture.

The question then becomes, “Why??” Why would God add these imperfect people to his perfect list? Why would He use the lives of these people to usher in the greatest event in human history- Jesus’ birth? The answer to this question is simple. He did this to show you that no matter who you are and no matter what you have done, Jesus was sent into the world as His gift of love to you. He did not come for the elite, the wealthy, and the religious alone, but for everyone.

From the beginning of time to Christmas 2009, God has chosen imperfect people to accomplish great things for Him. May God’s Christmas list remind you how valuable you are to Him and encourage you to show that same type of love to those around you.

The past few years I feel like I have not really taken full advantage of the Christmas season. Maybe I’m just getting older and the responsibilities of work and family don’t allow me hours upon hours to sit and watch Christmas movies on TBS all during this season. I told my wife a few weeks ago something like this, “I don’t want to miss it. I want to go all out.”

For me this means getting in the Christmas spirit. I want to listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies. There’s just nothing like Christmas! The whole world revolves around the Christmas season as people put up lights, get a little nicer, play Christmas music in their stores, and just enjoy the benefits of the Christmas season. I love Christmas if you can’t tell.

However, if I’m giving an honest assessment of how I’m doing this year, I think I’m falling into the same trap as the other years. My wife and I have watched, “Miracle on 34th Street” and I did catch the end of “Home Alone 2” the other day, but I still don’t feel I’ve taken full advantage of this season so far. I’ve not listened to a lot of Christmas music and not once, I tell you, not once have I taken a trip to the old school and listened to Amy Grant’s classic, “A Tender Tennessee Christmas.” Yes, the Christmas season is passing away and I may be missing it again.

How much worse would it be for us to go through Christmas and miss Jesus. Yes, we’ve listened to all the songs, watched all the movies, drank all the cider, but have left out Jesus. I want to encourage you to not miss Christ in the midst of CHRISTmas. It seems funny to say, but how many of us are doing that very thing? Is it all about the presents and feelings and not about the Savior who we celebrate? I encourage you to not miss Jesus this Christmas. Take some time and figure out how you and your family will celebrate Jesus this year above all. Don’t miss Him this Christmas!