Their quest was epic. The stars & ancient scriptures told them of a king’s birth. So they traveled to the city of kings. But in Jerusalem they found only a pretender & a pretense. In Bethlehem, however, they found a king who was everything they sought. Join us as we examine Matthew 2:1-12 and consider this Tale of Two Kings and why it is such good news for us.
Tag Archives: Associate Reformed Presbyterian
12/28/2025 | “Paying Full Price” | Luke 2:21-40
Sin’s ransom is costly. There are no discounts, subsidies, generics. Only full price is accepted. But what makes grace, grace is not what it costs, but who pays. Christ alone has fully paid full price. Are you still trying to pay the cost yourself? Join us as we examine Luke 2:21-40 and see the cost of our salvation begin to come into focus through the rituals of the law and the song of Simeon.
12/21/2025 | “Unlikely Converts” | Luke 2:1-20
Christ was born in obscurity. Announced only to shepherds, the most despised class of society. Ever under suspicion, barred from temple worship and law courts, these men were unlikely converts. No one gave them anything, but God gave them everything! Join us as we examine the story of the shepherds in Luke 2 and consider God’s powerful plan to save the most unlikely of converts.
The Silence of God
Chuck Pugh was a masterful negotiator. He was neither articulate nor prescient. He was no maven of technology, but he wielded the one tool in his negotiation toolbox with devastating effect. Chuck knew the power of silence. He understood that prolonged silence would awaken profound uncertainty in the minds of vendors regarding their proposals. We witnessed this time and time again.
Vendors would make their pitch to our team – hardware, software, development environments, networking gear. As engineers we would sit like a silent chorus in a Greek tragedy as Chuck worked his magic. They offered and Chuck would sit, stare, and create a looming silence. He never spoke first. Like men on the anxious bench, the vendors would offer up concession after concession. All born out of the insecurity his silence conceived.
Salesmen are afraid of silence. It is the one objection they are not trained to overcome. But then most of us are afraid of silence. It unsettles us. It makes us insecure, uncertain, afraid. Nothing heightens tension and drama like silence. We declare, speak, express and the void says nothing back. Nothing is more invalidating than silence. We think more silence is to be desired. And then we spend the day alone.
But no silence is more unsettling than the silence of God. One of the most comforting truths of Scripture is that God is a not silent. He is a God who reveals Himself, who is knowable, who is known. One of the great fears of paganism is uncertainty about who a god is, how he feels about humans, and what he requires. But the God of scripture is not like the false gods of the nations. He is the God who is not silent. He reveals himself in his works and his word. Yet sometimes He seems silent. The words of Psalm 22 reflected this feeling.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest. -Psalm 22:1-2
Even the Lord Jesus, in his human nature felt the weight of these words as he bore the wrath and curse of God for our sin. Has God every appeared silent in your life? Have you ever felt he was far from saving you? So far from your cries of anguish? Like one who will not answer your cries, day and night? How does this square with Scripture’s promises that he will never leave us or forsake us, that he is always at work, his ear attentive to the cry of his children?
Scripture invites us into the lives of many to whom God seemed silent. Into the grief of Mary and Martha at the graveside of Lazarus and into the deep bereavement of Naomi and Ruth. God seemed silent. Their adversity was bitter. And with every new day, God’s mercy and deliverance seemed withheld. Is God silent? Is he far from saving? Is he unconcerned? Is he not all that we believed him to be? What are we to think when God seems silent?
Ruth lived in the dark days of the Judges. Times when God’s people were beset by “violent invasions, apostate religion, unchecked lawlessness, and tribal civil war.” Times characterized by frightful social and religions chaos. The Book of the Judges begins with the sad statement that “there arose another generation after [Joshua] who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10) And ends with the indictment that “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)
God’s people had forgotten their God. God’s promises to settle them into a land of plenty seemed empty and broken as famine gripped even Bethlehem, “the house of bread.” Elimelech and Naomi move their little family into the hated land of Moab. But things go only from bad to worse. Where was God? Why was he so far from saving? Why was he so silent?
Why does God allow times of adversity and suffering in the lives of his people? We all ask this and many experience this personally. Join us as we examine Ruth 1:1-5 and wrestle with the question of why God sometimes appears silent and how we should respond. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join our livestream on YouTube.
A Tale of Two Kings
They were definitely not kings. Probably not magicians. Possibly Persian. Almost certainly astrologers and academics. They may have been royal counselors, though apparently not traveling on state business. We know little about them. Not their names. Nor their numbers. While they gave three types of gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh, we don’t know that there were exactly three givers. All we know for certain is that finding Jesus brought them exceeding great joy.
Their search is legendary, epic in fact. The stars and the ancient scripture told them of a king to be born, The king of the Jews. And so, they traveled to the city of Jewish kings. But in Jerusalem they found only a pretender and a pretense. The quest was never about the magi themselves, but the king they sought. And their search highlighted two remarkable contrasts.
The first is a shocking contrast between the tenacious joy of pagan magi and the apathetic rejection of the covenant people to the coming of their true king. Angels sang, shepherds announced, portents appeared, yet no one went. And then we see a vivid contrast between a self-serving, grasping puppet king and the King of Kings who did not grasp at his equality with God, but “emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself.”
Matthew’s account of the magi is not a story of three kings, but of two, Herod and Jesus. And a story of both the callous rejection and joyful reception of Jesus as the only true king. Join us as we examine Matthew 2:1-12 and consider this Tale of Two Kings and why it is such good news for us. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join our livestream on YouTube.
Paying Full Price
“You get what you pay for!” Or do you? Does paying more necessarily mean getting more? The spin doctors and podcasters of popular finance tell you, “Never pay full price.” Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey certainly feel a disturbance in the force if you shop the department store and not T. J. Maxx or let that Dollar General coupon expire unused. Though Americans do not have a haggle culture, we haggle in different ways. We hunt discounts like game. Then mount our trophies on social media.
Digital couponing, GoodRx, Temu, Fuel Rewards and a thousand other weapons are at our disposal to track and bag remarkable discounts on everything from food, to pharmacy, to fuel. “Never pay full price!” And when there is no discount weapon available, we simply ask for the ‘unadvertised discount.’ Few refuse this simple but powerful tactic. But in our rush to discount everything in life, is there perhaps some truth to the maxim, ‘you get what you pay for?’
My dad was a depression-era baby, steeped in all the financial austerity of his age. He never bought brand names, he never paid full price, and simply refused to buy something if it was more than he wanted to pay. But there were a few things my dad said were worth full price. A mantra that has served me well is, ‘son, when you get insurance, get State-Farm and when you have to fly, Fly Delta. They will never be the cheapest, but what they cost in money, they make up in service and reliability.’ This has proved good advice. There are few things for which we must pay full price, but there are some that are worth it.
It is one of the great paradoxes of our faith that grace is one of those things. It can only be purchased at full price. The cost of grace is never up for debate. But what makes grace, grace is not what it cost, but who pays. The cost of our sin is staggering. There are no discounts, no works, not piety, not good intentions, no sincere motives that make its cost affordable. We simply will never amass enough to pay its bill.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks of the costliness of judgement.
Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Matthew 5:25-26
And the Psalmist noted.
Truly no man can ransom another,
Psalm 49:7-9
or give to God the price of his life,
for the ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
that he should live on forever
and never see the pit.
Paul speaks of our predicament and our debt in Romans and again in Galatians.
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.” Romans 3:10-12For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith…” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Galatians 3:10-11, 13
And so, when Jesus dies on the cross, he cries out one word in Greek, tetelestai, translated “it is finished.” A word inscribed on ancient receipts to indicate a debt paid in full. Grace is not a discount. Not writing off bad debt. No mere debt forgiveness. No, a price had to be paid. Every penny of our guilt had to be remitted. What makes grace, grace is not what it costs, but who pays.
Christ has paid for those who believe in Him. For those who will not believe, the debt is theirs. From the beginning of his earthly life, Jesus was a man under the power of the law. Even in his infancy, his obedience to the law pointed at every turn to the full price he would pay to provide grace for us. No sooner had the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, than we read about Jesus’ obedience to the law and hear the words of the aged Simeon that “this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and as a sign to be opposed— and a sword will pierce your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
The ransom of your life is costly. There are no discounts, no subsidies, no generics. The full price is demanded. Grace is not about reduced cost, but a change in payor. Only in Christ has the full price been paid in full. Are you still trying to pay the skyrocketing cost of your sin yourself? Join us as we examine Luke 2:21-40 and see the cost of our salvation begin to come into focus through the rituals of the law and the song of Simeon. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on YouTube.
Unlikely Converts
Nothing keeps Christ in Christmas like our annual viewing of The Lord of the Rings. Now before you accuse me of sarcasm or heresy, consider that Tolkien’s Christian worldview shines brightly through every line of his books and even through all twelve hours of the extended versions of Peter Jackson’s adaptation.
Against all odds, as the irresistible darkness, oppression and malice of a Dark Lord covers the world in shadow and sorrow, salvation comes to the ruined race of men from the most unlikely of heroes. Like all epic tales insurmountable odds are overcome and undaunted courage is exercised as common men perform uncommon deeds.
Tolkien’s magnum opus is filled with many nuggets of wisdom, spoken at salient points. In one exchange, the main character, Frodo laments, “I wish the ring had never come to me.” His friend, Gandalf responds, “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
The Lord of the Rings is a powerful story of courage, friendship, and redemption, eclipsed only by what its author once called “the only true myth” – the gospel. The gospel is a story that is so unlikely, in which common men, empowered by faith, perform uncommon deeds and in which the ruined race of men is gloriously redeemed by a mighty hero, who took on the form of a servant and humbled himself, even to death on a cross.
The gospel is a story of unlikely converts, not of men whose moral excellence made them acceptable to God or earned his favor, nor men of power whose mighty deeds destroyed the power of their great enemies, death and the devil. No, the gospel is a story of the weak and powerless, snatched as burning brands from the fire.
Nowhere is this seen more powerfully than in Luke 2, sometimes called “the Christmas story.” The Lord of glory is born into obscurity while the only announcement is given to shepherds, the most despised and outcast class of society. These enigmatic shepherds were the most unlikely of converts, men who were notoriously under suspicion, rejected from temple worship because of ritual uncleanness, and unacceptable as witnesses in the courts. If anyone hoped to receive God’s goodwill it was not these men.
Yet these were the men to whom God announced, “for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Unto “you!” No one gave these men anything, but God gave them everything! Luther once wrote that “the gospel is in the personal pronouns.” Like them, if we hope to receive God’s goodwill and favor because of our works, we are sorely mistaken. But the good news is that a Savior has been born to us, Christ the Lord. And just like them, we are the most unlikely of converts.
Join us as we examine the story of the shepherds in Luke 2 and consider God’s powerful plan to save the most unlikely of converts. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join our livestream on YouTube.
12/14/2025 | “The Unsolvable Problem” | Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph had a real problem. Before the wedding night, he discovers Mary, his fiancée, is pregnant. As he wrestles with what to do, God shows him in a dream that what looks like relational disaster is actually the solution to humanity’s unsolvable problem. Join us as we examine Joseph’s quandary from Matthew 1:18-25 and consider the solution it reveals to our seemingly unsolvable problem.
12/07/2025 | “A Great Mystery” | Luke 1:26-38
“How will these things be?” Mary asked. And we wonder the same things as we ponder Jesus, fully God and fully man, two natures yet one person, forever. The angel’s answer points us to one of the most remarkable and precious truths of our faith. Join us as we examine Luke 1:26-38 and consider this question, why it is important and how we are to respond.
Lessons and Carols, 2025
The story of Christ’s coming is the most dramatic story ever told. While it reaches a beautiful high point with Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, there is much more to this story – a story with origins in eternity past and implications in eternity future, a story of epic failure and dramatic rescue, a story that reveals a God quite different from the one our fears imagine.
Come and experience the rest of this story in God’s own words and in song as we share in An Evening of Lessons and Carols together at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, December 24. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn. Get directions here or contact us for more info.
Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 