“Grace and Truth for the People of God"
 
December 30, 2012
 
The 1st Sunday after Christmas

Isaiah 61: 10 – 62: 3/Psalm 147: 12-20/Galatians 3: 23-25; 4: 4-7/John 1: 1-18
 
His Eminence
The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.
 
Archbishop of Manila
and 
Primate 
of the 
National Church in the Philippines 
and 
the Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
 
 
Merry Christmas!  It is a time of joy to the world, a declaration to mankind of God’s favor and His compassion and covenant with man. It is a joy to know that we have a God like our God – to know Him, to walk with Him, to listen to Him, and to discover His character, His faithfulness, and His love. What an awesome thing!

Scriptures today reveal to us what I call the favor of God to man. In the very beginning of time when God created all things, when He created man, His decision was that man was just not to be an ordinary citizen.  He wasn’t to be just a simple creature, but he was to be like God created in the image and likeness of God.

We begin to see who our God is.  He begins to reveal Himself to us – selfless, loving, kind, merciful and gracious – creating us in His image and likeness.  Having created us as such, He blessed man to be fruitful, to multiply, to subdue and to rule.  When God finished, He said, “It is very good.” My interpretation is that God said, “Excellent. Very good!”
This is the work of God. If only we would believe, if only we would put our confidence in Him.  Man, of course, failed.  Man thought that even though he was created in the image of God and was blessed by God, he thought that he could do better for himself.  He disobeyed the instructions of God and he ate of that forbidden tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Man decided that he wanted to make the choice of what was good and what was not good.  That brought into man’s life death – a separation from God. The provision of God was still around man.  God never failed to provide.  That peace and that relationship with God were broken.

I can imagine if God were like us of His frustration, His hurt. Having giving it all to man, having blessed man with His own character, His own likeness, and yet man, in his ability to make a choice, chose to set his own course and direction.  Scriptures show that God was not giving up.  What His feelings and His emotions were not given a broad and clear picture of this, but we can interpret it with the things He said.

In the prophecy of Isaiah 61, God was speaking to man.  He had seen the frustrations, the hurts, and the anxiety and the pain.   God spoke through Isaiah, “He was going to clothed man with garments of salvation.  He was going to wrapped him with the robe of righteousness. Just as a garden will bring forth the sprouts that are planted in it, so God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”  God says, “I will not be silent. I will not be calm for Zion’s sake.  For Jerusalem’s sake, I will not keep quiet. Until her righteousness goes forth like the brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning.”

You can see God’s heart. You can see His pain, perhaps.  Jerusalem had turned against Him; Zion was no longer what she was supposed to be; but God said, “Until her righteousness is that which guides you, I will not keep quiet.  I am not going to give up.  I am not going to let you be lost.”

This speaks to us of the favor of God.  We rebelled, yes; we failed, yes.  We turned against Him, absolutely; but God was not going to be disappointed.  He was not going to be put away.  His plan was not going to fail.  After all, what He created was excellent.

Man was given free will. He had a right to choose, but God had guided Him. God had given him the right way but he chose to go to a different way.  For most of us, we would have responded by probably death.  We would have destroyed, but not God.  This was His family; this was His people.  He made a covenant to them and said, “I will be your God and you will be My people.”

God began the plan that was already set beforehand. He knew, but as far as we are concerned, He worked toward that plan.  That plan was fulfilled in giving of His Son, Jesus Christ.  God sent His only Son to show His love and His commitment.

“I will not be silent.  I will not be still until the righteousness of Jerusalem and Zion is restored.”   God sent His Son and the beauty of sending His Son was that He was not going to take a second class level of bringing hope to mankind. He was going to bring His own Son to do the work.

Today, in some Churches, it is the Feast of the Holy Family.  When God sent His Son, I believe He said something to mankind.  He could have just sent His Son. It would have been God’s choice.  God could have done whatever He wanted, but He did not send Christ alone into the world. He sent Him into a family.   By so doing, He put His blessing upon the family.

This shows us that the family was to be the guideline, the standard for humanity.  Christ was taught by His mother, His father.  He was prepared for the task that He was given. This was the responsibility of the family. It was the way God intended it to be.  Christ did not come just to be alone.  God surrounded Him with a mother and a father.  He surrounded Him with love, with compassion, with those who could guide and lead Him and could minister to Him.

Again, we see the favor of God.  God could have just spoken and it would have been done, but God acted upon compassion.  He acted out of love and brought forth that which was going to redeem mankind.  Most of all, it was going to restore His family.  It was going to restore the relationship with man.  The son-ship was going to be brought back to reality – the family of God would be restored.

God had a plan. His favor went out to man.  His blessings were given to mankind and He was careful to make certain that what He had planned from the very beginning would be brought to a completion.
In the Epistle, it tells us that love brought us to a place where we could recognize Christ and know Him.  In coming to Christ, we would be reconciled, justified by faith.  Not by the work of man but by the faith of God.  Here is the favor of God.  He could have demanded that we pay the price for our rebellion. He could have demanded that we pay a price for our sin, but instead He sent His Son to take that upon Himself.   He sent His Son to bring favor to us as His people and to restore us back into His household.

For us, we were made sons through faith in Christ Jesus.  This is the hope that is ours.  No longer under a tutor, but now brought into the family of God, brought into that place wherein we receive special favor from God.

The gospel today in itself is just more than a homily.  It speaks so powerfully of the plan and the purpose of God.  How that from the very beginning of time, God had set the course – plans made long ago in perfection.  They were not going to fail. This is the greatness of our God. This is the character of our God.  He is not One who fails and forsakes, but One who brings into fullness the plans that He has set for man.

All things came into being by Him and apart from Him nothing came into being.  We have learned in the past weeks of Advent Hour the very character of God.  How that God is in everything.  His power exists in everything that is – nothing is without the power of God.  Whether it is the grass in the field, the flower in the garden, the tree that brings forth the fruit, the farm that brings forth the vegetables or whether it is the cattle or the fish, the power of God is there.

The power of God is in man.  It is the very connection that we have with excellence and ability being connected to that which has the power that exists in everything.  No power exists without His ability to put it there and to sustain it.  All things came into being from Him. In Him was life and that life was to bring light to mankind. We have a hope because that life is within us.  We have that ability to understand and to know if only we would listen to that voice – that still and quiet within us.

John 1 speaks so much and so powerfully to us. “He came and brought to us grace.  In Him was grace and truth.” Titus 2 says, “Grace has appeared.  Favor has appeared.” “Grace” in the Hebrew can be interpreted as favor.  It can also be interpreted as energy given to us through the love and the mercy of God to be able to accomplish the things that He desires us to accomplish.   Grace upon grace; not just simply grace, but grace upon grace; favor upon favor.

We are not alone. God says, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you.”  Why the despair?  Why the anxiety?  If God is with us and His favor is there, should it not bring hope into our lives?  Should it not lift us up above the turmoil and the strife of the world around us?  Should it not open our eyes to a future with Him?  Should it not bring to us the peace and the joy that He has promised?

Grace – God’s favor.  Even though we make our mistakes and we fail, His favor toward us is forgiveness. It is restoration.  It is that which brings into our lives a hope and a security because God is with us.  His provision is ours.   God said that He would not be silent until we are clothed with righteousness and wrapped in holiness.  This is the plan of God. This is His desire.  We are not in despair.  We are not at a point of failure and defeat.   We are in the very palm of God’s hand.He holds us tightly and He guides us and leads us.

Noah, after the flood, said to God, “Thy grace has been great toward me.”  Can we see the provision of God?  Can we see the plan of God?  In the Old Testament stories, they speak to us how God has redeemed His people.  How about Israel out of Egypt?  How about the Red Sea? How about the water and the food in the wilderness to keep them alive?  Is this not favor?  The people wanted to go back to Egypt.  They were not happy being led across the wilderness by Moses.  They murmured and complained, but God’s favor was with them.

It came to a point where God gave instructions to build a place where He could dwell with His people – a tent in the beginning.  He wanted to be with them.  He wanted them to know that He was with them.  He would guide them.  When the cloud raised, they packed up and moved.  God said, “As long as the cloud covers the tent, know that I am with you. Stay here. You are safe here.  I will watch over you.  I will take care of you.”

That favor and that truth that come from God wipes away the anxiety. It wipes away the failures, the disappointments, and the weaknesses.  It brings strength into our lives, strength to face the test that is at hand knowing that in the midst of the turmoil and the darkness, the light of Christ is with us.  It will bring to us the assurance and the confidence that faith that comes in knowing Him.

The world around us had made choices.  They have chosen to set standard which are contrary to God.  This is in Psalm 2. There is turmoil; there is stress in the world around us because they have chosen their own way rather than choosing the way of God.   The world, if we watch it and listen to it, will bring anxiety and fear to us.  That fear affects our hearts and causes damage to the heart.

If we only keep our eyes upon God, and we keep our eyes focused upon Him.  He tells us in Colossians 3, “Set your mind on the things above.”  Don’t get down into the mud and wallow in the mud in anxiety and fear.  Never mind.  The kingdom of God is at hand. He will guide us. He will help us.  He will strengthen us.  Remember, He has forgiven us and restored us in our relationship with the Father.  God is with you!  God will never leave you.  He will never forsake you.  He even says that He will not put you to shame.

Ephesians 1 says that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.  Peter tells us that we have been granted everything pertaining to life and godliness. God has done His part.  He has blessed us tremendously.  He has equipped us to be His sons to bring forth His glory upon the face of the earth.

As Adam, are we choosing our own way?  Are we choosing our own direction?  As we do, are we ready for the consequences?  Surely, we must recognize and understand.  God has blessed us tremendously.  We need to walk in that blessing.  This is what Paul tells us – walk in a manner worth of your salvation.  Walk in a manner worth of your redemption. Walk in a manner worthy of the righteousness that He has bestowed upon you.  Walk in a manner worthy of the holiness that is yours.

Christ paid the price to set us free. His favor He fulfilled it by giving His own life.  He fulfilled it by being obedient to the Father even though it was that which caused Him a little anxiety at one time.  See His love and His compassion and His favor.  As He hang on the cross, in anxiety and in pain, the last words that came forth from His mouth was a plea of mercy. It was a favor from His heart.  He was not holding that which was being done to Him as a grudge.  But He said to the Father, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Christmas brought all of this to us.  Christmas was the very beginning of
the plan of God to set man free, to bring new life to him, to take away the sadness, the sorrow, to wipe out the darkness, to bring us out of slavery to sin, and to bring us back to the family of God.

This is why Christmas has lights. This is why Christmas has colors, flowers. This is why joy is seen throughout the whole world.  Even people who don’t believe in God, they celebrate Christmas. They don’t know what they are doing, but they are making a proclamation, a declaration that Christ has come to set us free.  Christ has come to deliver us.

The day will come when their eyes will be open and their tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Their knee will bow to Him as Lord as Master.  The world seems, on the surface, to be failing and falling apart.  Man’s part is failing, but the kingdom of God is on the increase.  The kingdom of God is growing.  The kingdom of God has all that God intended it to have and it belongs to His Church. It belongs to you and to me.

It is time for faith to rise.  Isaiah challenges us, as well as other portions of Scripture does, “Awake! Awake O Zion! Realize what belongs to you.  Realize what has been given to you.  Realize the things that have been wiped away and realized the things that have been brought new to you.”

What hope! He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  Christmas! Joyful, joyful, we adore Him! With thanksgiving in our hearts, with joy in our spirit and with peace deep within because of the greatness of God.  I realize many will say, “But Bishop, where is it?  How come I don’t experience this?  Why am I so anxious?  Why am I so fearful?  Why am I so doubtful?”   It takes faith and believing.

What God has done, He has done well. It is like a little child that comes forth from the womb.  It can do basically little for himself.  He may be able to breathe, his heart may be able to function on its own, but somebody has to care for this child.  Somebody has to bring him to a point of knowledge and understanding.  If he is to become mature, he has to begin to use what he has been given.  He must start using the muscles, his mind, and train himself in that which is his in order that one day, he can walk.  One day, he can talk.  One day, he can think and plan and scheme and bring forth wisdom and understanding and creativity.  But he must be trained and exercise what he has.

Each of us has been given righteousness and holiness by Christ.  He paid the price to bring it into our lives.  His favor is ours, but we must exercise it. We must practice it.  Proclaim it!  Declare it!  Even in the midst of darkness, even in the midst of failure, even in the midst of what seems to be defeat, proclaim, “God is with me. He has given to me a hope.  He will not fail me.  He will not forsake me.”

For some, for the last few weeks, they felt that the Church has failed. The Church was not able to change the mind of the government, and the government put into law the RH Bill. It doesn’t matter what they do.  God’s provision is greater than the government. God’s provision is greater than their laws.

As a Church, we don’t bow to them.  We bow to Christ.  We bring forth His righteousness as He proclaims it.  We bring His life as He declares it.  God says, “When your quiver is full, you are blessed.”  The government says, “When your quiver is full, you are cursed.”  I believe God!  I don’t believe what others have said.

Today, amazing isn’t it, right after they pass that law, this is the Feast of the Holy Family?  This is the time when the Church makes her declaration and proclamation:  we will not bow but we will keep our faith in God.  The Hebrew children would not bow.  God brought them through the fiery furnace unscathed, but those who put them in the fiery furnace were the ones affected.

I believe faith in God is greater than any other power.  We are challenged and reminded and we must practice what God has given to us – walk in a manner of righteousness pleasing and worthy unto Him. Bring forth that glory and bring forth that life.  Be a witness to the world around us.  Proclaim His greatness and declare His righteousness, that which has been given to us, His people.

Merry Christmas!  Happy life filled with the greatness of God.  This time of the year reminds us that we have been set free!  We are no longer in bondage.  We have been given new life. Did you hear the angels say, “Peace on earth among men?”  It doesn’t seem it is peace, does it? But the peace is with men that God has given.  We are reminded: don’t let it flee away. Bring forth the glory of God through your life, Amen!

LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION 
WITH
HIS EMINENCE, THE MOST REVEREND LUIS ANTONIO "CHITO" GOKIM TAGLE  D.D. 


ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA, 
CARDINAL OF HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
AND 
VENERABLE PRIMATE
 OF THE PHILIPPINES

THROUGH
THE WORD EXPOSED