INTRO.- ILL.- On Christmas morning a woman told her husband, “I just dreamed that you gave me a beautiful diamond necklace. What do you think it means?”
“You’ll know tonight,” he said. That evening just before opening presents, the husband came home with a small package and gave it to his wife. Delighted, she opened it only to find a book entitled “The Meaning of Dreams.”
I would suggest that all husbands not give their wives a book or books unless that’s exactly what they would like to have for Christmas!
ILL.- A little boy returned from Sunday school with a new perspective on the Christmas story. He had learned all about the Wise Men from the East who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. He was so excited he could hardly wait to tell his parents.
As soon as he arrived home, he immediately began, "I learned all about the very first Christmas in Sunday school today! There wasn’t a Santa Claus way back then, so these three skinny guys on camels had to deliver all the toys! And Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with his nose so bright wasn’t there yet, so they had to have this big spotlight in the sky to find their way around!"
Cute story but far from accurate. Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is about Jesus coming into this world.
Luke 2:1-11 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Jesus is Christ the Lord. But why did He bother to come to earth? What was mission? Every human person has a mission or a purpose in life. That’s why Rick Warren wrote his book, “The Purpose Driven Life.” And Jesus had a purpose driven life!
PROP.- Why did Jesus come to earth? Why did God send Jesus to earth?
1- To seek and save the lost
2- To serve and not be served
3- To destroy the devil’s work
4- To show us the Father
1. JESUS CAME TO SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Jesus’ major mission was to find lost people and save them.
ILL.- One man wrote: We were on our annual Christmas trek to Chicago. Each year we brought our family to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma and visit the museums. This year we decided to finish our Christmas shopping at suburban Woodfield Mall. In the midst of all the fun and excitement, one of us noticed that little three-and-a-half- year-old Matthew was gone. Terror immediately struck our hearts. We had heard the horror stories: little children kidnapped in malls, rushed to a rest room, donned in different clothes and altered hairstyle, and then swiftly smuggled out, never to be seen again. We split up, each taking an assigned location. Mine was the parking lot. I’ll never forget that night--kicking through the newly fallen snow, calling out his name at the top of my lungs. I felt like a fool, yet my concern for his safety outweighed all other feelings.
Unsuccessful, I went back to our meeting point. My wife, Martie, had not found him, nor had my mother. And then my dad appeared, holding little Matthew by the hand. Our hearts leaped for joy. Interestingly enough, Matthew was untraumatized. He hadn’t been crying. To him, there had been no problem. I asked my father where he had found him. "The candy counter," he replied. "You should have seen him. His eyes came just about as high as the candy. He held his little hands behind his back and moved his head back and forth, surveying all the luscious options."
Little Matthew didn’t look lost. He didn’t know he was lost. He was oblivious to the danger he was in. This is a candy-counter culture, where people don’t look lost and don’t know they’re lost but they are lost. And all people are lost in sin until they find salvation in Jesus.
Mark 2:15-17 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Sick people need a doctor and sin-sick people need a Savior and there is only one Savior in this world.
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that He gave... For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
2. JESUS CAME TO SERVE AND NOT BE SERVED
Matthew 20:28 “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
It seems like we are living in a “give me,” “help me,” “hand out to me,” “wait on me” generation. Whatever happened to “do it for yourself”? And whatever happened to the spirit of looking out for someone else and doing for others?
ILL.- Explaining Marriage: The child was a typical four-year-old girl - cute, inquisitive, bright as a new penny. When she expressed difficulty in grasping the concept of marriage, her father decided to pull out his wedding photo album, thinking visual images would help.
One page after another, he pointed out the bride arriving at the church, the entrance, the wedding ceremony, the recessional, the reception, etc. "Now do you understand?" he asked. "I think so," she said, "is that when mommy came to work for us?"
That may well be the mentality that some men have and even some children have of the woman who becomes a wife and mother. It’s as though she’s a “hired hand” who comes to work in the home. While the wife and mother may do her duties very well as in cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, etc., SHE IS NOT TO BE THE ONLY SERVANT IN THE HOME. Dads need to learn the lesson of servanthood as well. Men need to serve as well and so do children! Moms and dads need to model servanthood in the home and then give the children jobs to teach them about serving others.
ILL.- Seth Wilson was the long time academic dean at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO. No job was too low for him. And he said that elders are servants of servants in a serving brotherhood of love.
The church should be a place of serving one another in love! And everyone should be quick to serve others in some form or another. No job should be too low for us to do for others.
Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
If you are interested in others and you want to look out for the interests of others, you will also be a servant to others.
3. JESUS CAME TO DESTROY THE DEVIL’S WORK
1 John 3:8 “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” The evil one is at work in this world and his work is evil stuff.
Look at what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, a week ago last Friday: 26 murdered and 20 of them children. The evil one is at work in our world.
Job 1:6-12 6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.” 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Satan went after Job like a bird dog on point. I guess he figured if he could trip up Job who was a righteous man then it would make other people fall as well. He tried to get Job to denounce his faith in God by taking his health, his wealth and his children, but Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Make no mistake about it, Satan is after you. He’s after some people more than others. He’s after Billy Graham more than he is thee and me, because if he could make Billy Graham fail or forsake the faith then it would be a lot easier to get more people to fail or to quit the faith and the church.
Satan would love to make an example out of certain people, that is, make a bad example of out them. The evil one is alive and well and is evil and He’s out to get you anyway He can! But Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work. How did He plan to do that? He foiled or defeated Satan at every turn!
In Matthew 3 Jesus was baptized by John the Baptizer in the Jordan River. Why did He do that? He had no sin. He didn’t need to be baptized or did He? Certainly not for the forgiveness of sins since He had none. He did it “to fulfill all righteousness” in His Father’s eyes. Jesus obeyed His Father’s will. He wanted to do everything (right and righteous) to please His Father. WE NEED TO DO THE SAME.
In Matthew 4 Jesus was led by God’s Spirit into desert where He was tempted by the devil. After fasting for 40 days and nights Jesus was obviously hungry. It doesn’t take that long for us to get hungry! Jesus must have been immensely hungry. And the devil thought, “Now I got him!” He said to Jesus, “If you are who you claim to be. If you are the son of God then command these stones to become loaves of hot bread.” But Jesus didn’t give in to temptation like we often do.
JESUS DESTROYED THE DEVIL’S WORK! And that was only the beginning of what Jesus was going to do to Satan.
Satan probably thought when Jesus went to cross, “Now I’ve really got him cornered! I’m going to throw the knockout punch and Jesus will be history.” But Satan was so dumb that he couldn’t see that Jesus was going to knock him out at Calvary! Instead of suffering in defeat, Jesus died in victory! Because it was through His suffering and death on the cross that He opened the door for all mankind to be saved!
I Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
Through Jesus’ suffering and death we have been healed, saved, forgiven, and we are headed to heaven! Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil! And Jesus is still doing that through His Holy Spirit who lives within us. Every time we experience victory over sin and temptation Jesus has destroyed the devil’s work!
4. JESUS CAME TO SHOW US THE FATHER
John 14:7-9 “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
ILL.- Wouldn’t you like to know what E J’s father was like? Was he as tall as E J or was he short? Was he smiley like E J or sober-faced? Was he a trucker or did he do something else in life? Some of you may well know the answers to these questions and probably a whole lot more. The big question is this: Is E J like his father or more like his mother?
The same questions could be asked of every man in this church. Are you like your father? And if so, in what ways? There are some people whose lives are so magnetic and special that you would love to know more about them, who their parents were, etc. This is really true of Jesus.
Jesus could draw the crowds of people and especially, when he taught and performed miracles. In Matthew 14:13-21 we have the feeding of the 5,000 from how many loaves and fishes? Fives small loaves of bread and two fish. How many were fed? It reads 5,000 men, besides women and children. And how much food was left over? 12 baskets of food. Now that would draw a crowd any day of the week in Jesus’ time! But that wasn’t what drew the crowd in the first place.
Matthew 14:13-14 “The crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” It was probably His teaching that caused people to follow Him. And then when He healed their sick I’m sure that increased the crowd of followers. Any time a person can minister effectively and compassionately, people will be drawn to that person. No human person was more compassionate and lovelier than Jesus.
When you study the life of Christ and see the beauty of His person and personality, how could you not want to know more about Him and want to know about His Father in heaven? When Jesus demonstrated love by healing people, by providing for their needs, by forgiving them of their sins then you can know for certain that His heart came from His Father’s heart. They were one and the same! Truly, like father, like son. And doesn’t make you excited about seeing your Heavenly Father some day?
CONCLUSION----------------
We know why Jesus came to earth. The big question now is: Why are you here? Why God put you here? And what are you going to do with your life in order to please God? If Jesus is the reason for the season shouldn’t He also be our reason for living?
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church, AR
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
