He Came To... Series

Ill:

• A father of a small boy was on active service in Afghanistan.

• He had been away from home for almost a year.

• Back home in the UK;

• The small boy looked frequently at a picture of his daddy on the table.

• After several months the boy had started to forget him as a person;

• But he would often look at the picture and say,

• "If only my father could step out of that picture and be real...."

• TRANSITION: Christmas is a reminder that God in the person of Jesus Christ;

• Stepped out of the photo, stepped out of the pages of scripture;

• And he stepped into the world that he had created!

Quote: Augustine’s Reflections

• Saint Augustine, was an early Christian theologian and philosopher

• He is accepted by most scholars;

• To be the most important figure in the ancient Western church,

• Fifteen centuries ago,

• Augustine tried to capture the mystery of the Incarnation:

“Maker of the sun,

He is made under the sun.

In the Father he remains,

From his mother he goes forth.

Creator of heaven and earth,

He was born on earth under heaven.

Unspeakably wise,

He is wisely speechless.

Filling the world,

He lies in a manger.

Ruler of the stars,

He nurses at his mother’s bosom.

He is both great in the nature of God,

And small in the form of a servant.”

We are continuing our mini-series of studies called; “He came to….”

• We know the primary reason Jesus came to planet earth was to die on a cross.

• We remember at his birth both Joseph and Mary;

• Were told specifically what to name the baby;

• “Give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins”

• (Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 & Luke chapter 1 verse 31).

• So primarily Jesus came to be the saviour;

• And he would do this through his sacrificial death on the cross.

But as a result of coming he also accomplished a variety of other things:

(a):

• Mathew chapter 5 verse 17 - He came to fulfil the Law.

• “Do not think that I HAVE COME to abolish the Law or the Prophets;

• I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them"

• Jesus the only perfect man and the only man to ever keep the Law of God 100%

• And because we are ‘in Christ’ we are the benefactors of his perfect life.

• He took our sin and in exchange he gives to us his righteousness.

• He took our guilt and in as a result we are justified.

• He was punished as a lawbreaker so that we can be considered righteous.

(b).

• i.e. Mathew chapter 9 verse 13 - He came to call sinners.

• "For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

• The word ‘sinner’ in the gospel accounts;

• Means something slightly different to how we normally understand it.

• It had a narrower, more specific application to Jewish people.

• In the gospels ‘sinners’ were primarily Jewish people who knew the Law;

• But chose not to obey it.

• i.e. The woman caught in adultery.

• She knew that was a wrong thing to do but went ahead anyway.

• i.e. Those who ignored and worked on the Sabbath:

• Remember the religious leaders accused Jesus of that (Luke chapter 13 verse 14)

• We tend to use the word today in a much broader sense;

• In that “All have sinned” – all have broken God’s Law.

• We are sinners by nature and sinners by practice (Romans chapter 3 verse 23)

(c).

• i.e. Matthew chapter 10 verse 34 - He came to bring division.

• “‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

• I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

• The division Jesus brought was real;

• But the sword he speaks about was never a literal one.

• In fact, when Peter took up a sword to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,

• Jesus rebuked him and told him to put away his sword,

• "For all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).

• A sword is a weapon which divides and severs.

• And following Jesus may well separate believers, even from friends and family!

• i.e. Moslem turns to Christ and is rejected by family & community.

(d).

• Matthew chapter 18 verse 11 - He came to save the lost.

• “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.”

• The religious leaders in the gospels despised ‘the lost’ and looked down on them;