The Son of Man

Jesus loved referring to himself as the Son of Man. I never really understood why Jesus talked like this. It is intriguing isn't it? Why Son of Man? Jesus was two entities. He was both God and man, a Son of God and a Son of Man. He was both. He was not just one or the other. He was both a Son of God and a Son of Man. In the four gospels he refers to himself in that way 81 times. However, he never refers to himself that way at all in the first three gospels. He only calls himself Son of God three times in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is commonly referred to as the gospel that emphasizes the deity of Christ, yet he calls himself Son of Man over seven times more than the Son of God in the book of John.

You would think that it would be opposite right? Jesus is God! He is the great I AM. He formed the heavens and the earth. He is eternal. He is God! However, he loves to refer to himself as a son of man. He loves the title Son of Man. Why? Because he was excited about the incarnation! The joy of Jesus in being man was astounding! He was so thrilled that he just couldn't stop talking about it! He was more excited about his humanness than we ever could be. God had exceeding joy in being a human being, and it overflowed in his ministry.

Jesus did not begrudge being a person. He was not even neutral on the matter. He was overflowing with joy of being a part of his creation. And I think we need to be just as excited. Jesus came for us. He came not just to be with us, but to lay his life down for us. He was scourged for our sin! He died and rose for us, so that now he is with us forever! Let us show our excitement as well. Show your excitement in belief. Show your excitement in trust. Show your love and joy and pleasure in and for God through repentance toward him.

John Piper recently wrote a Christmas poem that I would like to share you. May this be your on your heart this holiday season.

    In this smelly place he lay,

    Smelly like the swine,

    Smelly like the rotting hay,

    Like your sin, and mine.

    Do you see how low he lay?

    Do you see how low?

    There is lower yet to go.

    Lower yet to go.

    He is lying where they eat,

    Lying where the swine—

    Lying like a piece of meat

    Where the hungry dine.

    Do you see the flow complete

    Do you see the flow?

    There is greater love to show

    Greater love to show.

    Such a happy toddler there,

    Happy like the birds,

    Happy like the morning air

    Filled with happy words.

    Does he see or know or care?

    Does he see or know:

    O, how deep will be his woe

    Deep will be his woe?

    Knowing God was born like this

    Knowing this is he,

    Knowing somehow this is bliss

    For the swine and me,

    Is this loves full glow and kiss?

    Is this love’s full glow?

    There are deeper things to know,

    Deeper things to know.

    Mary musing every year,

    Musing on her son,

    Musing with a rising fear

    Who will be the one:

    Who will strike the blow and spear?

    Who will strike the blow?

    Does she know that blood must flow?

    Know that blood must flow?

    Jesus hanging on the tree,

    Hanging like the meat,

    Hanging there for swine like me,

    Gives his flesh to eat.

    Here is Life brought low and free.

    Here is Life brought low.

    O, how vast the debt I owe

    Vast the debt I owe.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. Merry Christmas.


Micah T

The Virgin

"Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."

I do not think we always understand what it meant for Mary to bear the Messiah. For whatever reason, we think that Mary just talked to Gabriel, met with Elizabeth for three months, came home, escaped to Bethlehem, and gave birth to Jesus. All of that may be accurate, but so much more was going on beneath the surface. For Mary to believe in God's promise, EVERYTHING was at risk. She risked scoffing, ridicule, and scorn from her peers. She almost lost her relationship with her husband. Her very life was at stake. Do you really think that people would have believed her when she said that she was bearing the Messiah as a virgin? Joseph would have divorced her if the Lord had not intervened. In the eyes of everyone, she was an adulteress. For Mary to believe,  it meant scandal.

And Mary chose that. Mary, in the midst of all of that said, "He who is mighty has done great things for me." Great things? Great things? What could possibly be great about scandal? "Oh she's just thirteen." You might say. But Mary was actually the only one who had it all figured out. You see, Mary saw the big picture. Not only did she see the big picture, but the big picture was more important to her than anything else. She says in Luke 1, "He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever." What she cared about was not her reputation, her relationship with her husband, or even her life. She only wanted the salvation of Israel! She wanted the Gospel! Nothing else mattered because the Messiah was here. Who cares about scorn? I got Jesus! She gave everything up for her son, Jesus.

What aren't you giving up for Jesus? What are you holding on to? Is it your friends? Is it money? Is it a boyfriend or a girlfriend? Is it alcohol, school, or your political position? How about the TV, your PlayStation, Movies, your camera, your money? Your family? Your reputation? Your popularity? What will your family think when you tell them you believe in Jesus? What will your friends think? Your fellow students? Your co-workers? Do they even know? Have you told anyone? What's the big picture in your life? Is it really Jesus, or do you just say it is?

Your peers always know what you care about the most. If you said you are incredibly excited about the upcoming football season and you don't put any time in the weight room, what does that say? That you don't really love football. You don't love winning. You are all talk. I could say my favorite movie was Star Wars and yet never actually watched it. What would that say about me? It would say I'm a fool. So many people say they are Christian, but their lives don't reflect it. They do not want to give up their idols.

So I tell you, give it all up! Don't forget the big picture! All of those things I mentioned are kindling (as Mark Driscoll puts it). They are going to burn. Why are you holding on to twigs? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Follow Mary's example.

Mary was barely a teenager, and she gave it all up. The example God gave us to follow is a kid! How humbling. If only we were more like kids.

Micah T

Unprejudiced Christmas

In the book Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, Tim Keller had the most incredibly convicting bit about Christmas I have ever read. I was thinking about writing my thoughts on it, but I do not think that I can do it justice. So here is an excerpt from his chapter, "The Gifts of Christmas."

...In the package of Christmas, there’s the ability to reconnect with the part of the human race you despise.

Have you ever noticed how women-centric the incarnation and resurrection narratives are? Do you realize that women, not men, are at the very center of these stories?

For example, in the story of the resurrection who was the only person in the world who knew that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead? Mary Magdalene, a former mental patient, is the one Jesus tells to take this news to the world. Everyone else in the whole world learns it from her. Women are the first people to see Jesus risen from the dead.

In the incarnation, the annunciation comes to a woman. God penetrates the world through the womb of a poor, unwed, Jewish, teenage girl. The first theological reflection group trying to wrap their minds around this to figure out what this means and what is going on in Mary and Elizabeth.

We know that in those days women had a very, very low status. They were marginalized and oppressed. For example, we know that a woman’s testimony was not admissible in court. Why? Because of prejudice against women.

We say to ourselves, aren’t we glad we’re past all that? Yes, but here’s what we have to realize: God is deliberately working with people the world despises. The very first witnesses to his nativity and resurrection are people whom the world says you can’t trust, people the world looks down on.

Because we don’t look down on women today, we don’t look at this part of the story and realize what we are being told. But here’s what we’re being told: Christmas is the end of snobbishness. Christmas is the end of thinking, Oh, that kind of person.

You don’t despise women, but you despise somebody. (Oh, yes you do!) You may not be a racist, but you certainly despise racists. You may not be a bigot, but you have certain people about which you think, They’re the reason for the problems in the world.

There’s a place in one of Martin Luther’s nativity sermons where he asks something like, “Do you know what a stable smells like? You know what the family would have smelled like after the birth when they went out into the city? And if they were standing next to you, how would you have felt about them and regarded them?” He is saying, I want you to see Christ in the neighbor you tend to despise -- in the political party you despise, in the race you despise, in the class of people you despise.

Christmas is the end of thinking you are better that someone else, because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you. It is telling you that people who are saved are not those who have arisen through their own ability to be what God wants them to be. Salvation come to those who are willing to admit how weak they are.

In Christmas there is a resource for something most of us don’t even feel the need of. We might be able to admit we have trouble being vulnerable or that we need help handing suffering or that we need more passion for justice. But almost nobody says, “What am I going to do about my prejudice and snobbery? I really need help with that.”

Do you remember what an incredible snob you were when you were a teenager? Teenagers generally want nothing to do with people who don’t dress right and look cool. Do you think you ever got over that? You’re not really over that. You just found more socially acceptable ways to express it. You see, teenagers let that aspect of human nature out and don’t realize how stupid they look, and after a while they get rid of it. But really they are just papering over it. There are all kinds of people you look down on and want nothing to do with --and you know it. But in Christmas you have this amazing resource to decimate that -- to remove it and take it away.

These are the gifts that come in the package of Christmas -- vulnerability for intimacy, strength for suffering, passion for justice, and power over prejudice. And you are blessed if you open this gift and take it into your life. If you do, you’ll be blessed. You’ll be transformed.

 I pray you are as convicted as I was. 


Micah T

The Angel

 "Do not be afraid."

Gabriel had such an incredible job, to proclaim "things into which angels long to look." (1 Peter 1:12) Angels are such a mystery. They were created in perfect harmony with one another and with God. But one angel, namely Satan, rebelled against God (much like us) and brought a third of the angels with him. God in is perfect justice will condemn Satan and his demons forever and they have no chance of redemption. Angels, who have a perfect understanding of God's justice, see God giving man redemption, a redemption that they have never seen before. To Gabriel this is unheard of, and yet here he is, delivering a message he does not even understand. Have you ever had to do that? Maybe one of your parents told you to pass a message along to a friend. "Mom, that doesn't even make any sense." "Micah, just do it. They will know what you're talking about." "OK, Mom." I say back sarcastically (probably disrespectfully). That's what Gabriel was doing here. He was giving an incomprehensible message to a sinful people, a people who probably reminded him of angels he once had fellowship with.

One thing that is so intriguing about what Gabriel says to both Zechariah (proclaiming the birth of John the Baptist) and Mary (proclaiming the birth of Jesus) is that how he tells them both not to be afraid. This is all over the Bible. The Lord said to Abraham, "Do not be afraid." Joshua was also told, "Do not be afraid." As well as Jacob, Elijah, Hagar, and the whole nation of Israel! And so many more people were told by God or an angel not to be afraid. It seems that the first thing that God wants people to know when they hear his Word is not to fear. Why? Because he knows our tendency to fear! He knew our humanness long before he ever experienced being. He knows our pain, long before he ever experienced it. He knows us! He created us! The hairs of our head our numbered Jesus says. He knows you. He made you. When God seems so far away remember, he knows you. Everything he does for us, whether triumph or suffering, is done out of his love and knowledge about us. Everything he does for us is done in careful thought about who we are. When Paul says that God "will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able." How else could that even be possible if God did not know you.

What a God that we have! The God of the Universe cares about us! He cares about us so much, that his knowledge about us is greater than our own knowledge. What a God we serve!

Micah T

The Forerunner

We have a week until Christmas. I love this time of year. I love buying and receiving gifts. And I love the mystery of the incarnation. The events leading up to the birth of Jesus are just incredible. I love reading about them. I plan to post everyday (or close to it) leading up to Christmas. I am very excited about it. This first one is about John the Baptist.

"Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord."

Great in the sight of the Lord. How does one become great in the sight of the Lord? What a staggering statement, that John would be great in the sight of God. How could anyone be that? It almost does not even make sense, that God would consider a person great. God has NEVER said that of anyone except Jesus. But John was great in the sight of Lord. Even Jesus said that, "Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist."How could anyone be great in the sight of Lord?

I used to wonder what the point of a forerunner was. I would ask, "Does Jesus need a forerunner?" What's the point of, "Preparing the way of the Lord." I used to say that it was to fulfill what Isaiah said. I do not that that answer is sufficient. Jesus does just not get a forerunner for the sake of prophecy. He's Jesus. He gets a forerunner because he needs and deserves a forerunner. To be honest that does not really make sense at first (at least to me). What did John the Baptist accomplish by preparing the way of Jesus? What was so noble about the being the predecessor to the Messiah?

I heard a sermon on the radio where the pastor explained this very well. He said that all kings had forerunners. The forerunner may lay out a carpet for the king to walk on. He may make the road flat so that the carriage ride is smooth for the king. That is his job. He prepares the way for the king. He makes his paths straight (sound familiar?). John the Baptist is the man who sets up the entrance for King Jesus. He points to Jesus. He magnifies Jesus. He bows down to Jesus. He was the model for everyone else after him. People see the forerunner bow down and they do likewise. John was that guy. The forerunner proclaims the entrance of the king, and is the first to bow down to him. He setting up for Christ's ministry. Does Christ need this? I used to think no, but he absolutely needs this! He is a king! All kings must have a forerunner, or they are not a king.

A forerunner then, in all honesty, is not a very high position (or a very noble position for that matter). No one knows who the forerunner was for King Louis XVI. Who prepared the way for Caesar Augustus? I don't know, do you? No one cares. They are not anything special. They roll out some carpet and say, "Here comes the king!" They bow and their job is over. If you care about your status, you do not apply for that job.

But John the Baptist was great in the sight of Lord. He was just a measly forerunner. How could a forerunner be great in the sight of the Lord? You see, John was not great because of his high position, he was great because of his low position. It was because he was just a forerunner that he was great. He was lowly. He was humble. How can anyone be great in the sight of the Lord? Humility! When people asked if he was the Christ, he said he was not. When people asked if he was Elijah, he denied it. "Are you the Prophet?" "No." John was always in self-denial. He never pointed to himself, he always pointed to Jesus. He did not care about himself. He ate bugs his whole life for goodness' sake. He was unequivocally the most humble person there was. That is why Jesus says, "Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist." However, what he says next is even more staggering, "Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." If you are the least, you are the most. If you are the most, you are the least. God considers man great ONLY if you consider yourself insignificant. More simply put, you consider yourself in comparison to the Almighty God. "God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble." God's grace is reserved for the humble. I beg you, put God in his place, and yourself in your place. For God is HOLY, and we are but forerunners in his presence, just as the great John the Baptist.

Micah T

You Are Not Forgotten, Matt Chandler

The first time I ever heard of Matt Chandler was at this conference. Immediately I loved him and loved listening to him. When he came to the Village Church the population was at about 300. It has grown to ten times that, from one campus to three. It did not grow because of entertaining worship. It did not grow because of preaching that made you feel good. It did not grow because of Matt Chandler either (he would be the first to tell you that). But it grew because God chose to do miraculous things through a young passionate man who does not have seminary degree.


A couple of weeks ago Matt Chandler and his family found out that he had some kind of growth on his brain. They just revealed the pathology results on The Village Church's blog (which can be seen here) and they are incredibly disheartening. The reports revealed a "malignant brain tumor that was not encapsulated." I cannot imagine what Matt's wife and his three kids are thinking tonight.

Matt put this on Twitter today, "Why not me? Why not you?" I have asked that question numerous times today. Why? Look at what you have done through Matt, and You want to put a stop to it now? What for? I am reminded of Psalm 30:9 where it says, "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?" I wonder, "What profit is there in giving Matt a malignant brain tumor, putting his family in the pit?"

We may never know why, but I know this, God loves Matt Chandler exceedingly. God has not forgotten him. God has not forgotten Matt's wife, Lauren. God has not forgotten Audrey, Reid, or Norah.

I am praying for you and your family Matt. Your tears are my tears. I love you all.

In our Advocate,

Micah T

The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

As Christians we all know that we should be thankful, not just on Thanksgiving, but all day and everyday. We have so much to be thankful for don't we? We, sinners, have been forgiven through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We should be infinitely thankful. I wonder sometimes if are we really thankful, or are we all talk? I think this is really important, because our thankfulness might be directly related to our fellowship with the Father. 

Psalm 116:17, "I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving." I wonder why the psalmist didn't say, "I will offer to you thanksgiving."? But he says the sacrifice of Thanksgiving. This is almost an overarching theme in the Bible is it not? That the very thankfulness that we have for the sacrifice of Jesus should be marked with sacrifice? The whole nation of Israel had laws pertaining to sacrifice. And we today have something else to sacrifice, our lives. Jesus said that anyone who loses his life for his sake will find life, true life. A thankful person is a sacrificial person. Look at the Man who sacrificed the most. Jesus sacrificed EVERYTHING because He was thankful. "What was He thankful for?" you might ask. Us. He was thankful for us! Christ was thankful to the Father for the bride that He was about to receive, and he gave to the Father His life as a testament of His thankfulness. What a picture of what we should be like! We should be exceedingly thankful for the Father giving us the Son, just as the Son is thankful for us. And our thankfulness should be marked with sacrifice.

We show our thankfulness by laying down everything that we love. When we would rather have our family than Christ, we are most definitely not thankful. When we forget what Jesus did and sin, we show our unthankfulness. When we really think about it, we need to repent of our unthankfulness quite often. That's a tough pill to swallow, but it is one we need to swallow. I feel like I'm thankful, but sometimes I forget the gospel. I forget what God has done. I forget that I have been redeemed! And I trade all of that for the idolatry of unthankfulness.

On Thanksgiving it's easy to remember Jesus. It's called Thanksgiving! It's a day devoted to remembering. Our prayer on Thanksgiving should be that we would be thankful all day everyday, because Jesus was thankful for us.

Micah T