(5) Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,

But a body You have prepared for Me.

(6) In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin

You had no pleasure.

(7) Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come –

In the volume of the book it is written of Me –

To do Your will, O God.'”

(8) Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law),  (9) then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.”  He takes away the first that He may establish the second.  (10) By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The author of Hebrews is unknown but the audience of this letter is Jewish Christians,  who are in danger of renouncing their commitment to Jesus Christ as Messiah.  The author makes extensive use of scripture to argue that the Old Testament points to the utter finality of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that effectively established the New Covenant.  The writer of Hebrews clearly regards God as the author of Scripture.

In Chapter 10 of Hebrews, the author contrasted the substance of the once and for all blood sacrifice of Jesus crucified with the “shadow” repetitive sacrifices of the Old Testament.   To leave Christ in Judaism would be to choose shadow over the real thing.  Nothing could be said that would be more contrary to Jewish belief and law about the efficacy of repetitive sacrifice as opposed to the final and sufficient sacrifice of Christ.  The Jews would not question the authority of the Old Testament and the author quotes Psalm 40 and Jeremiah to bolster his argument.  The importance of these verses are to show that Hebrews is not coming up with a new idea of religion but simply saying the Scriptures have pointed to Jesus as the Messiah all along.

Jesus comes into the world as one who created the world and as one who has a specific purpose.  The perfect obedience and perfect satisfaction demanded by God was fulfilled by Jesus.  Jesus declared that not only had He come to do the Father’s will but to meet the demands of the Law with perfect righteousness – perfect obedience to the will of God.  This was God’s plan of redemption.

(1) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  (2) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

(21) Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.  (22) And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.  (23) And this is His commandment:  that we should believe on the name of the Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.  (24) Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.  And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

This pastoral letter was written by the Apostle John and the Catholic Church designated these verses to be read on the Sunday before Christmas.

  The failure of the world to know God is one of the themes of John’s gospel and he returns to it here.  The world did not recognize Christ as God and did not know/cannot know or relate to those who by faith are the children of God.  Those who live in the world are those living in the material world of darkness.  The believers – those who are the faithful recipients of God’s gift of love earned, not by man, but by the redemptive sacrifice of Christ – are those who live in the light.

 John is writing about the basis for our new birth being the Father’s great love.  Our priority must be relationship over service/works  – our service must be grounded in our love for God.  John opens  this new chapter with the command to Behold – to pay attention and consider who we were and who we are now.  He uses the word agape when referring to this astonishing love – the verb is always active and means love as an act of will, not merely an emotional reaction.  Love may involve emotion but always involves action.  Agape is unrestricted, unrestrained and unconditional.  Agape love is the prerequisite love for all love.  The Father’s great love should teach us about our relationships with one another.  This love is a gift – and the use of the word for bestow means to make a gift of/ to confer.  We cannot earn this love and this great love is not just for a period of time but for all eternity.  This love which results in the believers being called children of God is a permanent gift.  Behold indeed!!!!

We celebrate Christmas as a reminder of the incarnation which was the beginning of our deliverance from the curse of death.  Quoting C.S. Lewis  “The Son of God became man to enable man to become the Son of God.  What a fabulous message and what a wonderful gift we have been given.  Merry Christmas.

(4)  Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I will say, rejoice!

(5 )Let your gentleness be known to all men.  The Lord is at hand.

(6)  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

I love these verses.  The Apostle Paul commands his readers to Rejoice in the Lord always.   Our joy is meant to be continual.  Paul wants the Philippians to have a full appreciation of their connection with Christ – to exult in Him not as an abstraction but as a living person.    It is so refreshing to think of salvation as a happy event; a happy union with Jesus and a time when believers shall be raised up with eagle’s wings.  Remember that this is a command and a calling for a lifestyle of joy with a deep seated belief that God is in charge of everything for the believer’s good.  Alll is well no matter what the circumstances.  We rejoice not in circumstance, but in Christ.

There was a belief at the time of writing Philippians that the Second Coming of Christ was near or that death could usher the believer into His presence at any time.  Some believe that this is what Paul was referring to when he wrote The Lord is at hand.  But Paul also felt the constant presence of Jesus.   True Christianity does not postpone the presence of Christ but lives in the sense that He is.

It follows that we should stop being fearful and/or anxious.  The use of the present tense calls for this to be habitual and we are to worry about nothing because we are to pray about everything.  God is in control.  This is not meant to belittle trouble but it is an order as to how to deal with circumstances and goes directly to our view of God as sovereign.  Worry can strangle our joy.  This does not mean indifference for that would end prayer which brings us the peace of God.  Freedom is to cast our cares upon God in thankful prayer.   The secret is to replace worry with prayer.  Grateful prayer.

Thankful prayer brings release from fear and worry because it affirms God’s sovereign control over every circumstance and that God’s purpose is the believer’s good.  Fretting is a waste of time .  Wouldn’t that be saying with our actions that we do not need God by not praying?  Worry is unbelief.

Ian Maclaren wrote  “What does your anxiety do?  It doesn not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it does empty today of its strength.  It does not make you escape the evil.  It makes you unfit to cope with it when it comes.”

always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, (5) for your  fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.  (6)  being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 

(8) For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the  affection of Jesus Christ.  (9) And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment (10) that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, (11) being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter addressed to the Philippians .  Paul clearly states that he is a prisoner while writing this epistle and I believe that he was in Rome (60 – 62 A.D.) at the time.  Paul was a citizen of Rome and this accorded him certain rights – apparently among them the freedom to preach the gospel even though he was under house arrest awaiting trial.  The dominant theme of this epistle to the Philippians was that of joy.  Paul rejoiced in the Philippians active involvement in his  ministry but the real joy that Paul expresses is his joy in serving God.  Paul expresses confidence that the work of sanctification that God has begun in the Philippians will continue until it is completed when Christ returns.

The word discernment is found only here in the New Testament.  It is a moral understanding based on the intellect and the senses – a perception or insight.  He prays that “you may approve” which is a term used in ancient times to describe the testing of purity of gold.  Paul is saying that the focus of knowledge is discernment – the ability to evaluate people and situations correctly.

To quote my favorite, C.S. Lewis, “We are to be remade.  All the rabbit in us is to disappear – and then, surprisingly, we shall find underneath it all a thing we have never imagined:  a real Man, an ageless god, a son of God, strong, radiant, wise, beautiful, and drenched in joy.”

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, (13)  so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

4 (1) Finally then , brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus, that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; (2) for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

The first letter to the Thessalonians was written by the Apostle Paul and is likely the earliest Biblical letter from Paul.  On his second missionary journey Paul was accompanied by Silas, Timothy and for part of the journey, Luke.  Paul had been directed in a vision to head to Macedonia and, through this trip, the evangelizing of Europe began.  Paul, Timothy and Silas arrived in Thessalonica, a good size city with a natural harbor and the seat of Roman government for all of Macedonia.  Paul began his preaching at the synagogue there – he would prove from the Old Testament that the Messiah must suffer and be raised from the dead and that Jesus is the Messiah.  As Paul attracted believers, Jewish and Gentile,  the Christian group grew and this incited the envy and hostility of the Jews.  There was rioting and accusation against the Christian assembly that they were upsetting society and opposing Caesar’s decrees.  .  In light of this and the threat to Paul’s host, Jason,  Paul, Silas and Timothy left Thessalonica.  Paul was much concerned about the converts there and later sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to encourage the Christians there and to report on them to Paul.  This report of Timothy, brought to Paul at Corinth undoubtedly was the occasion of the first letter to the Thessalonians.

The stamina of the converts at Thessonica in the face of opposition was noted and praised and also Paul addressed the question of his Apostolic authority.  Paul wrote this letter on a number of themes but primarily he addressed the second coming of Christ when  the judgment of God would be devastation against the ungodly but the believers would experience salvation and glory.  The Christian believers could anticipate deliverance at any moment but this immanent return of Christ did not release them from their obligations to continue their responsibilities to work and provide for themselves and their families.

The reading for today concerns the love the Apostle Paul urges for the Christians in Thessalonica.  He is assuming that love is already present from the report of Timothy about the health of the Church there.   The verb for love in this passage is translated as a love of the will and not love that is done for appearance or motivated by emotional attraction.  The Spirit transforms us and we are to look to the Lord to work in our hearts.  This active love is the route to holy conduct in which no fault can be found.  These words read not as a request but as a literal goal.  Every chapter in this epistle ends with a reference to the return of Jesus Christ and in this section this great truth is applied to motivate expected daily living toward salvation.