The Joshua Victor Theory

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. As we’ve been reading through the book of 1 John these past weeks in church, the themes of faith and love have echoed again and again. Last week it was about hearing God’s Word of Truth and believing and confessing Jesus in the flesh. It was about God’s first-love coming to us, and producing love in us in return. Building on that same thought, that faith and love are inseparable, today we hear in 1 John 5:1: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.” This is family-talk. It’s saying that we are children of God, born of God because we’re believers in Jesus Christ. As part of God’s family we love both our heavenly Father and other believers born of Him as well. Church, your fellow Christians, is your family. Even if your natural family is no longer living or is far from you, your fellow believers are God’s famil...

See Jesus. Traveling dusty roads to Jerusalem, fully aware of what lies ahead. See Him mount the donkey, receive the praise and joy fit for a king. A new hero! One who can save us! But did they really know what they were asking for? See a beautiful act of worship, done to Jesus—a woman pours rich perfume, anointing His feet. Scolded and ridiculed. But acknowledged and appreciated by Jesus. See His Last Supper with His disciples. A new covenant established in His blood. The cross was very near. See the trouble brewing—disciples scattering, fear overtaking each one, betrayal on the lips of one, denial on the lips of another. Arrest. Mockery, lies, a sham trial. See Jesus. He makes no protest. A lamb goes uncomplaining forth, the Lamb of God, in the hands of sinners, carrying the sins of the world away. Thankless sinners, blind to their rescue, blind to their Savior. With none to stand in the way, none to speak for justice, the hatred gives way to aggression. Abuse, names, laught...

            May the peace of Christ be with you! Another Christmas carol I love, we sang last night: Of the Father’s Love Begotten. The second verse opens: “Oh, that birth forever blessed, when the Virgin full of grace, by the Holy Ghost conceiving, bore the Savior of our race.” Truly there is no other birth in human history that is more blessed and more celebrated than the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Great men and women through history have had their birthday’s celebrated and remembered locally, nationally, or even internationally for certain periods of time. But none has had even remotely the universal impact and recognition throughout 2,000 years of history, as Jesus Christ. All other notable leaders and their birthdays have ultimately passed into the recesses of our memory, and their names eventually disappear from the calendars. None have had the influence that Jesus had.        ...