ADVENTure: The Loud, Noisy, Roaring, Life Changing, Not So Silent NightChikamu

The Adventure:

What’s the worst punishment you have ever received? I know, I know you’re probably a perfect child who does the dishes, has a spotless room, walks the fish, and asks for more vegetables and no desserts. No, I don’t think so. We all have been punished. Even if it was a short time out or a month of no screen time we have all been punished. Here we see that Solomon, the wise king, gets punished. This is a major event in the history of Israel because it led to the nation splitting in two. From here on out they will have two different kings, two different ways to live, and different enemies. All of this is because Solomon lived in sin. The wisest person to ever live outside of Jesus and he chose evil instead of goodness.

God is a God of justice which means that there are punishments for evil. That is good news because there are evil people who need to be punished but the truth is we have all done evil things. We have all sinned. Now you may think they’re minor sins like lying, disobeying your parents, or talking about your friends behind their backs. But all sin is major and all sin is evil. If God is good and sin is going against God then sin is evil. There is a punishment for sin in the same way there was a punishment for Solomon.

But here is the good news of Jesus. The punishment we deserve because of sin is death. What did Jesus do on the cross? He died! He died in our place. The punishment we deserved because of sin He took on. But sin could not defeat Jesus because three days later He rose again. Our sins are paid for for anyone who believes in Jesus and gives Jesus their whole life. We will sin, we will fight against sin, but Jesus has paid for all of our sins. We walk in freedom, not punishment.

The Destination:

From the beginning, Mary knew Jesus was born to take on our punishment. When you think of Christ being born know that Jesus was born to love us. Love us to the point of dying for us. This adds so much to our Christmas and our worship when we know that Jesus from the beginning planned to die for us. But the plan also included that Jesus would rise three days later and we celebrate we have a living God and a living hope.

Songs For The Journey:

All Glory Be To Christ by Kings (MHM)