Big Gifts vs. Stocking Stuffers

Hello, everyone. Today is Thursday, December the 15th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

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Look at that face right there. They can't on the radio. That's the point. Yeah, that's the whole point.

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Make sure you like it. Follow it. Like and follow.

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John. Yes, sir. With love and charity in your heart, will you deliver the verse of the day to our listeners?

I don't think so, but I can just read it right off the front sheet. That's fine. I'll do it with love. This is with all my love. Ecclesiastes 4, 9 through 10. So it's two verses. Two verses of the day. Two are better than one.

There you go. Two verses are better than one. Two verses are better than one.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. You know, Dr. Shaw has said this before, but the reason that church is essential is because we need one another. It was never in the plan for Christianity to be a solo venture.

This was never meant to be an exercise that you do alone. The Christian life is meant to be lived in community with one another. And this verse in Ecclesiastes points so perfectly to that. We need one another.

Especially as men, I feel like it's been way too romanticized throughout history that the lone wolf, the lone soldier, the last man standing, that's the position of honor. Listen, God has not designed you that way. It never works.

And ultimately it's ineffective. We need people around us. That's how God has designed us. And that's how he wants us to commune with one another, with his people especially. Absolutely.

That was a big buildup. Wait a minute. Are you okay? Is everything fine? Let me center myself. That took a lot out of me.

I feel like mercy, mercy. The Christmas movie marathon has begun in my house. Yay. I was watching- The Christmas movie marathon has been going strong for weeks in the Hill House. Ellie is doing, she's still nesting.

She has not given birth yet. And I was watching a movie last night. She comes in and she goes, what do you think you're doing? I was like, I'm just trying to chill.

Just hanging out watching- She points to the TV. I think it was like Spiderman 2. She was like, what is this? I was like, I'm just not at Spiderman.

I don't know. She was like, this is, this is December. We watch Christmas movies here. I was like, I know you're not really about to take the TV mid movie and put it on. So like two minutes later I'm watching Home Alone. Of course.

No, for real. There's a monopoly in homes now where- She said, ho ho ho, Spidey's got to go. She put Kevin McAllister on the TV and then walked away to go finish her project. She's like, you will be watching Christmas movies in this house. So she wasn't even watching it with you. She was just like, you are going to watch Christmas movies on today.

Yeah. She was putting, I don't know what she was doing. I think she was putting my bed together or something. And I was like just sitting there with the baby and she was like, we will be, you will be watching Christmas movies for me to not watch.

And she left. Right. Christmas movies have to be playing or else it's not fun, I guess.

100%. It's a manufactured atmosphere in people's homes and they all love it. We love it. What y'all been watching at the house? So we have watched the Santa Claus. Tim Allen style?

Tim Allen, love that one. Santa Claus one, two, and three. They made three? Mm hmm.

And they have a show coming out too. My goodness, Ryan. Yeah. Oh man.

So popular. Absolutely. With Tim Allen? Yeah. He's in all of them. Yeah. And the show. I mean, he's Santa and the show. My goodness.

They can't replace him halfway through. I mean, he's Santa Claus. Yeah.

I didn't know there was more than one. Yeah, absolutely. So good. Of course, timeless classic, the Muppet Christmas Carol. I'm willing to come down with you on Muppets Christmas Carol. I am about Muppets Christmas Carol.

Love the Muppet Christmas Carol. You know when an old, when a, when a cold wind blows, it chills you, man. It chills you to the bone. But you know what?

Nothing in nature will freeze your heart like years of being alone. I love it. I love it. I love it. That's awesome. Nothing says Charles Dickens timeless tale better than Gonzo and Rizzo the rat.

Absolutely. I'm with you on Muppets Christmas. I love it. We've also been watching, we've also been watching the Grinch. Which Grinch?

So we've watched a couple of different, I think we've watched all three of the versions that at least I know of. There's a cartoon Grinch. The old school animated Grinch.

Like the sixties, seventies. Love it. Classic.

Uh huh. You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch. We've watched Jim Carrey's Grinch live action, arguably like many people's favorite version. You know, that was on in our house a couple of weeks ago and I was like watching it kind of critically. That movie really holds up. It is a great movie. Like just visually, um, practically that movie, I mean even just like the makeup, I mean it does not look dated.

It really does not look dated at all. And that movie was 22 years old. Yeah. Yeah. That's really that old 20.

I remember, I remember it came out in 2000 because my parents took me to see it and when we came out it was snowing, which in North Carolina is a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. That marked the calendar. I remember I have a vivid memory of going to see that movie in theaters coming out and it's like, there's like snow coming down. Wow. That was, that was kind of close to magic. I'm not going to lie. And then we watched the newest one with Benedict Cumberbatch.

I bought that for the, for my son and I put it on and I think I kind of ignored it. Is it good? Yeah. It's, it's, it's different. He plays a more, um, he's less mean outright and more snarky, like just kind of sarcastic. Like a Dr.

Strange Grinch. Kind of like he's got like, kind of. Does he have the eye of Agamotto and like, he's like turning back time. But he is green like the time stone. Okay.

So nice. But he doesn't have like the cloak of levitation or anything. Which would you say, if you've seen all three, then which would you say is the best Grinch? Oh man. My personal favorite, I don't know that I can pick the best because they're all good for different reasons. My personal favorite is the Jim Carrey.

It's gotta be Jim Carrey. I do love that one. I love the classic animated one as well. I mean, that's hard to top that one. But the Jim Carrey one is my favorite.

It's the most enjoyable to watch. Where are you Christmas? Little Cindy Lou. You know, I wonder what she's doing now. I wonder what she's doing. She's grown now. I mean that, that movie, she's like seven when that movie came out and that was 22 years ago.

Hold on, I'm gonna title this Cindy Lou Who. Wow. Oh, is that her in the, um, is that her in the, uh, in the new one?

The little. Yeah. That's Cindy. That's Cindy Lou Who in the new, in the new movie.

Little animated Cindy Lou Who. Okay. Well. Well in, in keeping with Christmas today, we're talking about gifts, but a different kind of gifts than you would find underneath the tree. We're talking about the different gifts that God gives us and the Bible has a lot to say about this and we're going to discuss this because I feel like this is the topic of conversation or at least questions for people sometimes.

Yeah, I think so. If you guys have any questions or suggestions for new topics, you can send us a text at 252-582-5028 or visit us online at cleerviewtodayshow.com. We're going to get Dr. Shaw and we'll be right back. Hey there listeners. My name is Kelsey. And I'm John. And we want to pause the show for just a second to talk to you guys about Clearview Church's original EP Together Forward. Yeah, these are five songs, five original songs that we wrote right here at Clearview Church. Myself, Dr. Shaw, David Williamson, our engineer on the Clearview Today show, some of the other guys on the worship team. But sometime during all the shutdowns of 2020, we noticed this really horrible isolationism setting in all over the world.

It was like nothing we've ever seen before. That's right. And one of the things that we've always been about here at Clearview is forward motion and community. Those are both very important. So the whole heart behind the EP was, hey, let's just take these two things and let's put them together because we truly feel like that's the antidote to what's happening in the world today. We're right in the middle of writing a whole bunch of new material as a church. But while all of those projects are still in the works, we want to help point you guys towards these songs that God has given us. You can listen to all of them right now on Spotify, just look up Clearview Worship, or if you want to support what we're doing here at Clearview Church, you can buy it on iTunes right now. And always remember you can support us directly at the Clearview Today show by visiting us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

That's right. Thanks for listening. We hope these songs are as much a blessing to you as they were for us. Amen. Let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadon Shaw, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions for Dr. Shaw or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text at 252-582-5028. Dr. Shaw is with us today. Dr. Shaw, how are you doing today? I'm doing very well. It's good to be back on the show. Absolutely.

Hope you guys are doing well. Absolutely. Definitely. I had a nice full lunch. I feel refreshed. I feel ready to go.

Refreshed. Rejuvenated. Maybe like ready to roll. Yeah, we're ready to roll.

Y'all feeling good? Well, if you guys are joining us for the first time, Dr. Abbadon Shaw is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, a professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. If you want to follow his work, you can do so on his blog, AbbadonShaw.com.

You build up so much suspense for that. You can do so. You can do so. Let wait. AbbadonShaw.com.

Also, if you're not already, make sure you follow along with Dr. Shaw's public figures page on Facebook. Oh, yes. AbbadonShawPhD.

Is that the actual title? It's AbbadonShawPhD. AbbadonShawPhD on Facebook. Make sure you follow that for important updates, information that you can learn, stuff related to what we talk about here on the show, and then additional information to help you grow in your faith and your understanding of God's Word. We'll link it in the show notes to this episode, the public figures page. On today's episode, as we have been talking about Christmas, I want to take a look at an illustration that you gave in a project that actually hasn't been released yet. I don't know how much I can say. It has not been released.

It has not been announced. I don't know how much I can say here. I'm looking to John to pull the brakes. Say it. Say it. It's a project we're working on based on a sermon series that you preached, Dr. Shaw.

It's going to be in book form? No, don't say that. Oh. No, yeah. It's fine. Instantly terrified. Don't tell him that.

No. So last year, I believe the year was 2021, Dr. Shaw preached a sermon series called First Gospel. It was three messages talking about how the first Christmas message was actually given in the Garden of Eden. And I think we're going to talk about that a little more in the upcoming week. Next week, I believe we're talking about that, the proto-Evangelion. And so we came together as a team and we were like, what if this was a book? And then I remember- What a cool question to ask. What if it was a book? What if this is a book?

Well, here's the thing. He's writing every week, paragraphs and paragraphs of content that is well-researched. And it's just going to sit on the website. And so we said, why don't we turn it into a book? And then as Dr. Shaw wants to do, he said, it could be way more than a book.

Let's do a whole series. So that's still coming. The first gospel is still heavily in the drafting process. But this, what we're talking about today is a chapter in that book. Right.

It's not in the drafting process. What's that? And that's that book that's sitting on the shelf right now. Hang on one second. Let me see if I can just make eye contact the whole time. That's the plan.

I'm sure. 30 days to a new beginning by who? By Dr. Abbadon Shaw, Nicole Shaw. This is a devotional. You probably just heard an ad for it not long ago, but this is a 30-day devotional to help you move forward in life.

I've been reading it. I'm on day eight. No, I did day eight yesterday. I'm on day nine. Day nine.

Day nine. Wow. It's a great book.

I love it. And we're hearing lots of stuff in the community about it. Absolutely. Dr. Shaw, has anybody let you know where they are in the reading process? How they're liking the book?

Absolutely. And we're so grateful to people who are texting me, emailing me, messaging me on Facebook, and just thanking me. Last night, a lady sent me a text and this was about somebody from the church. So she said, if I can find that right here.

This was about 9 47 PM. And then she said, got y'all's book today from Amazon. Looking forward to it. I didn't realize you had done one before.

Guess I'll have to get that one too, LOL. Thank you. And Nicole, for all you do, exclamation point, God has truly blessed me with this church. So she's being very kind.

And I responded back and I told her that God has blessed us with her in our lives. That's right. And so anyways, it's been pretty awesome. That should be said that I forgot to mention that too. This is book two in the 30 days series. So you can also get book one 30 days through a crisis. Yep.

Absolutely. Both are available on Amazon in paperback, ebook. The first one I believe is available as an audio book as well. On audible.

You can search that 30 days through a crisis, daily devotions, navigate your faith by Dr. Abidin and Shaw. That's on audible. This one will be on audible. I'm hoping within a month, within a month, maybe a month and a half, it should be on audible.

But of course, we'll let you guys know when it is. That's right. And we'll talk more about those books in upcoming episodes.

And you'll be hearing about the first gospel project as well, going forward. Yeah. On today's episode, I want to talk about an illustration that you used in one of those messages. And as we're thinking about Christmas time, it's the illustration of the big gift versus the stocking gifts. Yes.

Can you explain that a little bit for our listeners, what that illustration means? Absolutely. So it's been several years ago, I went to visit a friend's family and you know, growing up in India, Christmas was, you get a new pair of pants, new shirt, and that's it. Maybe new pair of shoes, but usually shoes would be at the start of the school year, which was in June.

June is when school would start there. So that's about it. So when I went to this friend's home, you know, first time ever being in someone someone's home on a Christmas Eve, Christmas day, I was blown away. So many gifts and toys and presents sitting under the tree and everything is decorated. I had seen Christmas trees before I had seen gifts before, but this was like a lot. So, and then I heard like, yeah, on Christmas morning, early morning, everybody's gonna have to wake up. And so I was like, okay, all right, well, I guess the family's going to wake up, but no, they wanted me to wake up too. So I'm like, okay, this is going to be awkward sitting there, watching everybody open the gifts, but Hey, that's fine.

No problem. I'm learning something about a new culture. So I didn't take any offense to that. But then when it began, I mean, they, they had gifts for me under the tree, a pair of jeans and shirt, and, you know, I can't even remember now, but a lot of the different things. And so it was a lot of fun and excitement to get all these things and tear into those gifts.

And then when it's done, it was not done. Right. All right. Now we're going to open the stocking. So they had a real fireplace and sure enough, they got the stockings down and one of them had my name on it.

Wow. And so everybody got the stockings and they dug into the stockings and there was some Hershey's kisses. There was some this, some of that. And then there were also things like gift cards and stuff like that that I wasn't expecting. What a tradition to be seen from the outside. Like you come in, especially if you're, if you're used to getting like a pair of pants, a shirt, maybe some shoes or something just to have all these boxes and then it's all done.

And then it's like, all right, now it's time to open the other ones that are in these socks that hang over the fireplace. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, shoot.

I'll do it. Yeah. It's pretty awesome. I saw this.

I felt the same thing in Nicole's home too. So it's, it's, it has a great significance when it comes to Christianity and salvation because the good news of salvation is that Jesus came to take away the penalty of our sins. Okay. So God's wrath is upon you. I know there are a lot of people who don't believe in that. They have a different idea of the doctrine of justification, but I believe in the penal substitutionary atonement, where God's wrath is upon you, but because of what Jesus did, he took God's wrath upon himself.

Hence we are justified. Now that seems like that's it, you know, that's the big gift, but no, he also came to free us from the repercussions of sin. Those are the gifts in the stockings that most of the time people do not open shame, blame, anger, fear, stubbornness, bitterness, little white lies, big white, fat lies, selfishness, self-worship, all these things are the repercussions of sins, but unfortunately many Christians only get the big idea, which is like, I know, I know my sins are forgiven. I'm going to heaven.

But in this life, God has done so much to help you free yourself from all the symptoms or the repercussions of sins. And it's all coming from the cross. And unless you open the stockings, you really haven't experienced Christmas all the way.

Right, right. It's a great analogy because it's so ingrained into us, especially in Western culture where we all expect that there's going to be a big gift. But there's always the idea of the big gifts and then the small gifts, because that's even something that we're going through right now. My parents are texting me, like, I can't just get you socks. I can't just get you a hat. There's got to be something. What's the big gift?

What is your big thing that you want? It's so hardwired into us culturally speaking that there's this big gift, which of course in this analogy would be our salvation. But then everybody knows the small gifts, theologically speaking, but culturally we know there's going to be candy in the stockings. There's going to be gift cards. There's going to be socks and all these things.

So I think the analogy just really works. I love the mindset of, wait, there's more. You've opened this gift. You've opened the big thing that was kind of ostentatious in front of the tree. You've torn off the wrapping paper.

You see the big gift. Great. Wonderful.

But wait, there's more. And this is not something that we are sort of, you know, oh, that's cute or well, that's pretty interesting that you came up with that idea. No, it's biblical. Right.

Right. Luke chapter four, 17. It says, he meaning Jesus was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Now, how often do we turn to that passage when it comes to our salvation? Rarely. Rarely. We never do. Very rarely. Right.

We hardly ever do. So what does that mean that we, to proclaim liberty to the captives? The word for liberty in the Hebrews is the word derur and it goes back to the book of Leviticus where slaves and debtors were to be set free every six years, which was the year of Jubilee. Okay. Same thing is applicable to us or is applied to us that you are now set free. So here's the thing, guys, you can be born again, saved, forgiven, and still be in bondage.

I'm not saying positionally, positionally you are set free, but because you haven't realized it, you haven't understood it, you could be living in bondage. Yeah. Wow. And the sanctity of our salvation is like, is the miracle of the moment, right? It's in that moment you are saved, but sanctification is the work of a lifetime.

Yeah. And what we're talking about here is, is the sanctification process that Jesus came to set us free. That's a great point because I mean, think about the, I think about like the physical just release meant from slavery. It's not like all of the social baggage that comes with that is gone.

All the emotional things, all of the mental things that you go through. That stuff's not just gone just because I'm now a free person, but I think that's the good thing about Jesus. And that's what we're kind of saying is that He sets you free from all of that stuff. Right. Right. Those are the socking gifts. We were talking about this just not long ago. Like there were people who have been liberated, but they still live like they are in captivity.

They hold onto things, whether it's food, whether it's clothing, they keep it real close to the chest. And then people are telling them, you don't have to live like you're in slavery anymore. You don't have to live like you're in bondage anymore because you're free. But how often do we do the same thing? Yeah. Our sin is so comfortable because I know it. This is an ugly, destructive sin, but it's mine and I know it.

It's a familiar jail cell. Right. Now I read from Luke, which is kind of quoting from Isaiah, right?

But does it have any, you know, sometimes people tend to think that Paul's writings are, you know, the advanced form of Christianity. Okay. All right. Well, let's read it. Titus chapter two, verse 11. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. So salvation has come, but now pay attention to the stockings, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live sober. We should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might listen, redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself, his own special people, zealous for good works.

So God's grace that brought salvation has come, but wait, let's go to the stockings. You know, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed means the setting free from every breaking of God's commandments and purify for himself, his own special people, zealous for good work, purify. So not just we're set free, but we're also, we have a new desire to do things differently as God's special people and not just doing things out of like, we gotta, we gotta live the Christian life. No zealous for good works means we have a passion to do what is right. That's true because we don't think of, we don't think of that new desire as a gift sometimes. We think of it almost as a by-product. It's just what's going to happen, but it's a gift that God gives us. That desire to do good, that desire to obey him as a gift.

Wow. And then if you go further along, you know, we're talking about slavery, right? What were you slaves to? Well, Titus chapter three, verse three, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

See, these are all the things that we were enslaved to. I mean, think about each one of them foolish. What is foolish? Just doing dumb stuff. Disobedient means you know what's right, but you do what's wrong. Deceived means you think you know it, but you don't. Serving various lusts means whether it's pornography or, or, you know, immorality or selfish gains, whatever. You, you are serving various lusts. And when the kind, I'm sorry, living in malice and envy, malice means a hateful spirit. Why are you hateful?

I don't know. I'm just mad. So you're hateful to people. You're going to talk down to people. You're going to mistreat people.

Yeah. Envy. Envy meaning what? Envy and jealousy. Envy is something I'm not going to share.

Envy is always looking at what somebody else has and you want it, you want it. And then of course, hateful and hating one another. So we need to be set free from all this. And that's what salvation does for us. How can we, these stocking gifts that we often overlook, what are some ways that we can practically overcome the repercussions of these sins? What are some things that we can do or that our listeners can do to sort of protect and guard ourselves from falling into these old patterns? Well, I would say returning to a life of true worship.

Okay. So once you're saved, now you're worshiping the living true God. This is why Jesus came to us.

You know, he, as we return our worship to where it belongs, we're going to see a reversal of the repercussion of sins. So reorient your life towards the gospel. You know, I try to do that every day. It's not just how am I going to get through this day or what am I going to achieve this day? How can I build God's kingdom today? I think that way, but I'm doing my devotions. I'm sitting there thinking, so I got this, this, and this to do.

How am I going to make an impact for the gospel? See my desire is different. Does it mean I don't have temptations? Yes I do. Does it mean that I don't have trials? Yes I do. Does it mean that I don't have distractions and hurtful events or my own failures?

Yes. Does it mean that I keep reorienting myself towards the gospel? Seek to magnify God and obey his word in everything. So it's not about me, it's about Jesus Christ and how can I obey his word? Surround yourself with those who seek the same. So I can be around people who are negative, critical, angry, bitter, lustful, self-centered, or I can be around people who truly love God. I want to be around those kinds of people. That's such simple advice, but I think you're one of the only pastors I've ever heard to genuinely give that advice the way that you do and as much as you do, just to surround yourself with people and be very careful.

Be discerning who you allow into your life. I love that. Thank you. I've taken that concept that you've shared in services and brought it to the level of our teenagers here at Clearview, where the people you surround yourself with, the top five friends that you have in that sense, they're going to determine the quality and the course of your life. That's right.

That's a huge impact, which is why it matters who you surround yourself with. I'll read a quick verse. It says in Titus 3, 4, but when the kindness and the love of God, our savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the spirit of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our savior, that having been justified by his grace, we should become, what's the word, heirs.

Oh yeah. From being a slave to unrighteousness, we are to become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. An heir is not a slave. An heir is free. An heir is rich. An heir has a future. A slave doesn't. So I believe many Christians are still living the slave life, but they should be living the heir life. Wow. Amen.

Live the life of an heir, not a slave. That's so good. If you guys enjoyed today's topic, if you have suggestions for future topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

You can also visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com and don't forget, you can support us financially in the same place. Every gift that you give goes to build this partnership where we can reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. John, you have a quote to leave us with today. Yes. This is from a book that Dr. Shaw gifted to David, which David lent to me.

All men have their frailties and whoever looks for a friend without imperfections will never find what he seeks. Cyrus the Great. Cyrus the Great. Cyrus.

Cyrus. Very nice. Very nice. Very cool. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.