Sermon - December 13, 2009
The Purpose of
Christmas: What Angels Don't Know
1 Peter 1:8-12, Luke 2:10 – 11
Last Sunday as we looked at Rick Warren's
book The Purpose of Christmas, we discovered that the story we read in
Luke 2 tells us the first purpose of Christmas, Celebration. We celebrate that
God loves us, is with us and is for us. This morning' we see in verse 11, the
second purpose of Christmas: Today in the town of David a Savior has been
born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Look carefully at the angel's message:
In the town of David, that is prophesy fulfilled: a Savior a
deliverer, a liberator, a person with the singular and specific mission to save;
has been born to you, not just to the parents, or strangers, but to you
personally – to you, who is Christ the Lord; not just any
delightful baby, but God Himself in the flesh born as a human being. A month of
sermons could not completely unpack the significance of the one sentence. But
put to the quick: Jesus was born to do what we cannot, save us from sin and
eternal death.
The movie, “My Sisters Keeper”is about
a child with cancer. Her parents make the decision to have another child
genetically engineered, to be a match for the older girl's blood, bone marrow,
kidneys, etc. - a donor child. The baby was conceived and born so that older
sister could live. Jesus was conceived and born to give Himself to us so that
we could live with God forever. The second purpose of Christmas is Salvation.
Salvation is much more that being saved from hell. Rick Warren states that
Salvation is being saved from something, for something and by something. So what
more are we saved from? What are we saved for? And by what are we saved?
Jesus saves us from sin. Sin is a problem for everyone because everyone
sins. From the time we are born, it is our natural inclination to sin. Look at
the adorable newborn. The universe revolves around hunger, comfort, and needing
to be changed. And just as an infant cannot literally change himself, neither
can we change ourselves. No one, in their own strength or with their own wits
can be free from sin. Change must come from within the heart. On our own we are
helpless. The apostle Paul testifies, I do not understand what I do. For
what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. Rm. 7:15 Anyone who
has been on a diet knows that. Every time you have a cookie or a candy bar you
are doing what you do not want to do. Or when you try to break a bad habit, or
an addiction, or entertain unhealthy or destructive thoughts, busted.
The middle letter of the word sin is I, and frankly that's the center of
most of our problems “I”self: We serve ourselves as god. Every time we do what
we like instead of what God wants us to do that's acting like we are God. We act
as if we know better for ourselves than our Creator. That war between the gods,
my will vs. God's love, creates enormous stress, turmoil, and even illness on
the body, the mind, and in relationships. Pride disconnects us from God. We
feel distant from our Lord. Focus on self is a million mile detour from the
God's Presence. Do you feel that God is not listening? God doesn't care? Your
prayers are bouncing back at you? Hear the words of Isaiah 59:2 But your
iniquities hve separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from
you, so that He will not hear you. That is why Jesus was born. We can
confess our sins to God and, in Jesus' Name, be forgiven, completely forgiven.
Salvation means deliverance. Another word for Salvation is Freedom;
freedom from guilt. If you break a law, you are guilty. Run a red light, you're
guilty. Early one morning I was heading east on a residential street in Odebolt.
The painfully brilliant sun blinded my eyes. I reached for my sunglasses on the
dash, and then saw the whirling red and blue light behind me. I thought I was
being stopped for driving in the center of the road. As I gave him my license,
he asked me “You were going a little fast through that stop sign.” My reflex
response, “Do you see that sun?' He was very courteous and told me that is
something to watch for especially that time of year. As he wrote he asked, “your
address is Odebolt?” I said, no, I live in Correctionville but I stay at the
parsonage during the week.” He handed me the warning, “ Well,” he said, “you're
a resident in our hearts.” I deserved a ticket, instead I received kindness,
pardon, and affirmation.
That's God's grace. Jesus took our deserved punishment, death, upon Himself. By
doing so, He has freed us from guilt. Out of gratitude for the grace of a
warning and not a citation, I always stop at the sign of my former offense. Out
of gratitude for God's grace toward us in Jesus Christ, our hearts are changed,
and we stop at the sign of our former offenses.
And he died for all that those who
live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was
raised again. 2 Cor. 5:15
We are saved from sin. We are saved for a
purpose. Your life matters. But don't take my word for it, take the Word of God.
Look at this: For he chose
us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his
sight. Eph. 1:4 Before anything existed God each of us, to know and grow
in His grace, and through Jesus Christ be l in his sight. Why would God go to
all the trouble? That is eternal, unconditional and infinite love. Here is the
heart of our purpose for which we have been saved: Eph.
2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ to do good works, which
God prepared in advance for us to do.
When you stick in a “g” after the
letter I in the sin, the meaning of the word changes completely from sin to
sign. So when God rules in us, our lives that once were in sin become a sign, a
significant sign of God's presence and power through God's work. What is the
work of God? What does God want us to do? That's what the people asked Jesus.
His reply; The work of God is this: to
believe in the one he has sent.” Jn. 6:29. In other words, it's not about
trying, it's about trusting;. Believing in Christ means entering in a love and
trust relationship, interaction and dependence upon our living Lord Jesus.
We are saved from sin, We are saved for relationship with God
demonstrated by good works. Finally, we are saved by grace. We don't deserve the
outpouring of God's love and Christ's sacrifice. It cost Jesus everything to
make it free for us. All we do is receive it. In receiving Him, the Salvation of
our souls. We know what angels don't know.
Angels are beings created by God. They sometimes take the appearance of humans,
but by nature are spirits. That God in His love should send His Son to redeem
flesh and blood mortals fascinates them. As Peter said of the prophets, “It
was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they
poke of these things that have now been told you by those who have preached the
gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.
Even the angels long to look into these things. 1 Pt.1:12
You know what the angel's don't know: the joy of
Salvation: Like the joy of a prisoner on
death row in the eleventh hour, on his way to the chamber of execution,
pardoned: saved from sin and death, Saved for your God given purpose to live
life fully,
and saved by God's extreme makeover love, grace. Amen.
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