God Sent Forth His Son… (December 2019 Update)
In Galatians 4:4-6, Paul gives us a summary of the Christmas story: “In the fulness of time, God sent forth His son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His son into your hearts, crying ‘Abba, Father.’” When we think of Christmas, we often turn to familiar stories surrounding the birth of Jesus. But here, Paul reminds us that Christmas is more than just a “babe in a manger.”
First, Christmas reminds us about the amazing providence of God! “In the fulness of time” – when the time was just right. In the providence of God, the first Christmas came at exactly the right time! Some translate this as the “perfect” time. It might also be translated as “when the time was pregnant” or completely ready. Like a pregnant mother who is “great with child.” Everything was ready for the baby to come.
Jesus was born “in the fulness of time.” It was the time God had prepared beforehand. It was in accordance with all the prophecies about his birth. It was the fulfillment of all the predictions about the coming of the Messiah. It was “in the fulness of time.” As Charles Spurgeon says, “there are no loose threads in the providence of God, no stiches dropped, no events left to chance.”
Everything! The events surrounding the conception and the birth of John the Baptist pointed to the coming of Messiah (Luke 1). The angelic messengers to Mary and Joseph (Matthew 1 and Luke 1) prepared Mary and Joseph for this amazing event. And the Lord prepared the hearts of many in Jerusalem at that time who were waiting for the coming of Messiah and the redemption of Israel (Luke 2, Simeon, Anna and many other). And “In the fulness of time, God sent forth His son….”
Second, Christmas reminds us about the amazing Gift of God! “God sent forth His son” – Christmas is about the greatest gift of all. At the first Christmas, God did not send an angel. He did not send us a messenger. He did not send another prophet. He sent His only son.
This passage also reminds us about the pre-existence of Jesus. Unlike us, the Son of God did not come into existence at his birth. He existed long before Bethlehem. God “sent forth His son” – from where? From heaven. Jesus existed before he was laid in the manger. In Micah 5:2, God gives us a prophecy about the place of his birth: “But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting.” But this prophecy tells us more than the place of his birth. It tells us about his eternal nature: “whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting.” So, God sent forth His son – because he existed before the incarnation.
No wonder Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” Christmas is about God’s amazing gift of His son to us.
Third, Christmas reminds us that Jesus became one of us! “Born of a woman, under the law” – To save us, He must be one of us. He had to live as we lived, yet be without sin. Jesus had to become one of us. How could this happen? This is one of the great miracles of Christmas – that God became man. This is recorded in both Luke and Matthew in what we call the “Virgin Birth.”
Here we have more fulfilled prophecy about the incarnation and the virgin birth. In Genesis 3:15, after Adam and Eve have sinned, God gives them a promise. He tells the serpent, “I will put enmity … between your seed and her seed, and He shall bruise your head ….” The prophecy makes no sense without the virgin birth – the woman does not have the seed; she has the egg. But Jesus is born without the action of a man. So the prophecy speaks of him as the “seed” of the woman. In Isaiah 7:14 we read that “a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us).” Hebrews 2:9 tells us that Jesus was made “a little lower than the angels … that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” He became one of us so that he might become our perfect substitute. He became one of us so that he could die for our sins.
But that’s not all. He was “born of a woman, under the law.” Jesus not only needed to be born as one of us (truly man), but also he had to live under the law and be sinless. If he fails and sins even once, he is no longer a perfect sacrifice and he cannot pay for our sins. So, on that first Christmas morning, Jesus was “born of a woman” so he could be our perfect substitute. And he grew up and lived “under the law” – perfectly, without sin – so that he could be our perfect sacrifice!
Fourth, Christmas reminds us of another Christmas Miracle! “And because we are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his son into our hearts.” Because of Christmas, we are no longer slaves in bondage; we have been adopted – we are sons! Phillip Brooks captures this in the third verse of his song, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”: “Where meek souls receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.”
The Virgin Birth is a Christmas miracle. But Jesus came with a purpose – to die for our sins and provide a way for us to be saved. That miracle is the miracle of the new birth. Christmas is not about a baby in the manger. It is about the Son of God on the cross. But it is about more than that. It is about us. Because of His miraculous birth and His perfect, sinless life, and His perfect sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, we have new life. We have cleansing from our sins and we have adoption as sons! And because we are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His son into our hearts!
On Christmas, we usually give gifts. And certainly, in Christ, we have the greatest gift of all. But … we have so much more! We don’t just have gifts on Christmas; we have been made sons. And not just sons, but heirs – “an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7). Which would be better – to receive gifts from a rich man, or to be made his heir? At Christmas, remember that, in Christ, we have received many wonderful gifts. But the greatest gift is that we have been made sons and that we are joint heirs with Christ! No gift could be greater than that!
What a great gift we have been given through Jesus Christ! As you celebrate Christmas this season, never forget that Christmas is about God sending forth His son so that we might have eternal life. That’s the real meaning of Christmas!
Teaching Church History …
This past month, I had the opportunity to teach a Church History class at Kiev Theological Seminary. I had 28 students in class and had a great time sharing stories of faith and theology from the History of the church until the Reformation. In class, we looked at the various Christological heresies and discussed how these issues in the church help to sharpen our understanding of our faith. We also discussed many practical, pastoral issues in class as we discussed the development of church leadership (from house churches to cathedrals) and the loss of the focus on the gospel during the Middle Ages. Church History has many values for our students. It helps them to see the faith and beliefs of others in history and also it helps them to evaluate the errors of the church in history so that they will not make the same mistakes today.
Also this month, I finally finished grading papers from my two classes in September but I still have papers coming next week from my October class (58 papers!). Then I will have papers from the Church History class the week before Christmas. I’m also working on getting ready for classes in January, March and May. Thank you for praying for me when I am teaching and preparing for these classes!
Our Family …
Every day we are impressed with how much the girls are learning as Katya teaches them at home. They are beginning to read and they are loving math and working with numbers. Just yesterday, I was grading papers in my office and I heard Kristina skipping around the kitchen island counting down from 10 to 1 over and over again. They also love counting to 100 by tens (something about reaching 100 really seems like an accomplishment to them!). Today we were talking about big numbers and I asked the girls how old I was. They said 61. I said, “no, I’m 65.” Nadia exclaimed, “Wow, that’s like a dinosaur!” Usually teens think their parents are “dinosaurs” (old fashioned) so our girls must be maturing more quickly than we realized!
Teaching at home is a really special blessing because it gives us time with the girls and they often come up with many amazing and often hilarious things. Just yesterday, Kristina was sitting on Katya’s lap and she said, with all seriousness: “Mama, I hope one day I will have a child that is as good as I am.” She couldn’t understand why we thought that was so funny!
The girls enjoy many activities including baking and cooking at home and going to dance classes twice a week. They love drawing and also cutting out their creations so they can play with them afterwards. One of their favorite activities is putting together puzzles. They often work on puzzles together (until Nadia gets tired and begins doing somersaults), and they love the challenge of doing them by themselves.
Looking to the Future …
As we prepare to enter another year (it will be my 10th year living here and 24th year teaching here), we have a couple of long-range goals that we have to begin to work on. Our goal is to move back to the states in 5-7 years. That would mean I would have been teaching in Ukraine around 30 years and living here over 15 years. But we have a lot to prepare for before we can move back.
There are two things we need to work on now:. First, I need to be training Ukrainians to teach my classes and for returning to the states. My first priority is training others to teach my current classes. I have already done this with a few classes but not all of my classes. Usually I need 3-4 years to transition to another teacher. I try to use the basic disciple-making pattern. The first year, I like to have a prospective teacher sit in class and take notes so they understand the whole class. The second year, they would teach a couple of lectures each day , and the third year, we would be splitting the lecture time. By year 4, they would teach the class and I would be available to help as needed. So I will begin working on this this year.
Second, we will need to get ready financially for a move back. Our biggest problem will be a very limited income. When Debbie was undergoing cancer treatments, we accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. We were blessed to receive help from churches and friends but the amounts were still far more than we could handle. So I cashed in all our IRAs and refinanced the house a couple times to pay off the medical bills. I realized then that this would make my retirement very difficult but giving Debbie a few extra years was worth any amount. I still think it was the best decision and I would do it again to have those few extra years together.
Because of this, we still have a mortgage on our house in Arkansas. And I only expect to receive a little over $2000/month from SS when I finally retire. My SS retirement is low because I worked most of my ministry starting new churches and pastoring smaller churches at low salaries. So our primary goal over the next 4-5 years is to double up on house payments to eliminate our only remaining debt. This is essential if we are going to be able to live on my SS once we return. I also hope to try to find some online teaching opportunities to give me some extra income too. It will be tough to live on that amount even in Arkansas so we know it is essential to work on eliminating all debt now so we can begin to get ready for the move back.
We ask you to be praying for us. We need to keep our expenses and medical needs low in order to accomplish this.
Medical Issues … Right now, I am having additional medical issues that we need to get cleared up. Since September, I have been having some very serious problems with my stomach. I have had diarrhea for a few days almost weekly. The doctors have been trying to determine the problem – so far ultrasounds, and CT scans have not shown any clear problem. I had a colonoscopy this week which showed that I have some enlarged polyps and a lot of diverticulitis. But they were unable to see everything and not able to remove the polyps so I had another colonoscopy the same week (2 in one week!!!) to remove them and see what other problems might be there. They removed the polyps (one was 2cm) and found severe diverticulitis and some erosion and some kind of infection in my colon. The biopsies were sent off for pathology reports. I will have a consultation in a week and hope to find out what else I need to do.
So we appreciate your prayers for us as we begin our preparations for returning to the states. Five years might seem like far away, but if we do not get prepared now, we will need to delay our return. I am certainly missing my children and grandchildren and my medical issues have made me much more tired than normal. So I am hoping we can stay focused on our preparations for returning in a few years.
Praying for Ukraine …
Thank you for praying for Ukraine. Ukraine is in the news in the states almost constantly these days but for all the wrong reasons. It seems that lawmakers only care about Ukraine as a means to impeach President Trump and they continue to forget that we are in a war with Russia and we need western support, both verbally and physically. Pray for Ukraine – we need peace but we also need stability in our economy.
Also, pray for our graduates and students. Many of these are ministering on the frontlines as pastors and chaplains. Others are ministering to refugees from the war. We are grateful that we have been able to stay in Ukraine and carry on ministry here. In 2014, it looked like it might be necessary for us to leave our ministry in Ukraine due to the conflict. Things are more stable now, but we realize that that could change in a moment. Pray that we can continue to train and equip Ukrainians for ministry while we are here.
Thank you for you faithfulness in praying for us and supporting us. Our support level is stable but (as usual) we need to add 2-3 new families this year to our regular support team. Please pray that the Lord will raise up a few additional partners for this ministry here.
We pray that you might all have a wonderful Christmas season – that the Lord would grant you special times with family and friends but most of all, that you might remember that at Christmas, “God sent forth His son.” And that is why we celebrate!
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya
Kristina and Nadia
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