Jesus is the reason for the season- 4 Christmas questions: #4, “WHY?”
In the military you have heard the expression, “A Search and destroy mission.” Well, the reason why Christ came was to, “Save and destroy.”
We have come to our final question in our series, “Jesus is the reason for the season - 4 Christmas questions.” This Christmas Eve we close by asking, “WHY?” Why did Jesus come to earth?” The answer: “To save and destroy.”
The answer to WHY is really the culmination of the previous three questions.
WHERE did the idea originate took us back before the creation of the world to the very mind of the Triune God. We looked at the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and Son and the plan and purpose of God for our redemption. We saw that as believers in Christ we are an IMPORTANT part of God’s plan.
WHO, took us to examine the Son of God, His eternality and the love between the Father and the Son. As believers in Christ, we are LOVED, and saw how the Father loves us in the same way He loves the Son.
HOW, brought us to consider the Incarnation and Virgin birth of the God-Man, Jesus. In putting on human flesh, Christ became one of us, that we might become a child of God. We saw that we are UNDERSTOOD because Jesus was human and was tempted like us.
All these bring us to the actual event of that first Christmas and to ask, “WHY?” “Why did he come?” To save and destroy.
Let’s take a look at each of these missions, first, to save and then, to destroy.
Our first verse today is, Lk.19:10, Jesus tells us why he came.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
This is what the angel had told Joseph in a dream. In Mt.1:21 we read;
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
A Savior saves. To save someone means they are in danger and need to be rescued. What is the danger, and is it so great that the very Son of God had to come to earth to save us? The fact is, without this danger being present, Christmas would be pointless! This is exactly the trajectory the secular world is moving Christmas towards- being pointless. It wants to cut away the Gospel meaning and hide the danger, reducing it to a mere ‘Holiday’ of gift exchanging. The meaning is lost behind Santa and snowmen. The ‘silent night’ the world wants is silence to the danger that precipitated Christ’s birth.
Yes, the danger is very great. Yet countless are the number of people who are unaware that this danger looms before them. They are not scrooges, or bad people, though some may be. They are good neighbors and co-workers and family, and all are unaware of the danger. Some have heard about it, but choose to ignore it. They all go about life as routine as if it will go on and on. They don’t know that they are on the wrong path and lost.
It’s easy to get lost and not know it. I remember years ago when my son was a teen, we would go on a Father/son canoe trip out of a Christian camp called Northern Frontier in the Adirondack Mts. This one particular summer trip it was hot, in the 90’s hot. At one point, we had a long portage, I think it was about a mile. So we put on our backpacks and hoisted our canoe overhead and started to march. We we the last in the line. It wasn’t long before the strength in the shoulders began to ebb and the canoe slowly settled down until the seat bar rested across our shoulders. This of course, meant my head was inside the canoe so I could only see downward, maybe 3 feet in front of us. Well, on and on we trudged, sweat pouring down, muscles aching, the only comfort was knowing that ahead was another lake and easy paddling. But suddenly, I thought I heard someone shout my name. “Bob, Bob” it was someone calling me. We stopped and rolled the canoe off our shoulders. I looked ahead for our group, but they were not there. “Bob, Bob” I turned to see our leaders jogging towards us. “Bob, you missed the turn!” I had been on the wrong trail and lost but didn’t know it. I felt confident that soon everything would be well, but it wouldn’t have been, because I was lost. If it weren’t for our Leader coming back and looking for us, we’d still be walking! That’s the danger with being lost, you may not even know you are.
The danger I’m talking about is SIN and its consequences. We are all in danger because, as The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans 3:23;
“All have sinned and fall short ...”
Lying, stealing, cursing, immorality, pride, selfishness, gossip, envy, on and on the list of sins goes. And what’s the result?
Romans 6:23;
“The wages of sin is death...”
That is not limited to physical death, but rather spiritual death and an eternal separation from God in hell. That’s the danger! And in the prophet Isaiah we read 53:6;
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each has turned to our own way...”
And as long as we keep our ‘heads in the canoe’ we are oblivious to that danger, but that’s where that road eventually leads.
But that is no reason to despair. For our leader, Jesus Christ, has come looking for us! He has come to earth, clothed in human flesh, to rescue us. Jesus tells us this in Luke 19:10;
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
That first Christmas was a pivotal point in human history. It was the first chapter in the earthly life of Jesus who would be our redeemer, our rescuer. He would live the perfect, sinless life we failed to live, that he might gain the reward of eternal life for all who believe. He would die, being crucified and taking the punishment due sinners upon himself, that believers would be set free from punishment. Because of this Paul writes in Romans 8:1;
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus...”
Once we admit we have sinned, that we are sinners and are lost, we need to confess and turn to Christ asking Him to save us. IT IS A PRAYER HE ALWAYS HEARS AND ANSWERS.
This is why He came and why Christmas is, as the angels sang;
“Good News of great joy, for all people. Today, in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”
It’s only ‘good news’ if we recognize the danger it addresses. A Savior, SAVES.
So why doesn’t everyone call on the name of Christ and be saved? It’s certainly not difficult. They don’t because of SIN. Sin blinds them to the danger. They are quite content to keep their head in the canoe and keep on walking, convinced they are going the right way. Sin deafens them to the voice calling them.
But there is another reason. The Devil. Many people feel the devil is a primitive myth used to frighten people. But Jesus speaks of him as a real and nefarious being, as do the disciples and the Christian church down through the ages. He and his demons are at work in this world to thwart the plan and purpose of God. They don’t want people to believe in Christ and be liberated from the kingdom of darkness. Paul informs us of Satan in 2 Cor.4:4;
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
If our own sin keeps our heads in the canoe, the devil dances on top of the canoe pressing it down so we cannot lift it off and see.
This brings us to the second aspect of “WHY”, “why Christ came.” In 1 John 3:8 we reads in part;
“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
Christ came to SAVE, but also to DESTROY. It’s really different sides of the same coin. When people are saved, they are rescued and the devil’s work destroyed. Listen to Paul writing to the Colossian believers, ch.1:10ff;
“And we pray this in order that,
10 you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[a] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
There it is, because of the work of Christ on behalf of all who believe, HE HAS QUALIFIED US, to share the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. He has done this by rescuing us from the dominion of darkness!
Jesus said in Mt. 16:18;
I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it.”
At Christmas, that baby Jesus established a beachhead in enemy territory. His work was to build his church by saving us and destroying the works of the devil. His work continues through us, believers who have been recruited to GO! and make disciples. In other words, GO, multiply the troops. It means spiritual warfare and the devil does not give ground easily. But neither can he withstand the power of the Christ who lives within us.
“Greater is He who is in us, then he who is in the world.”
Jesus came to ‘Save and destroy’ and in doing that, HE QUALIFIES US FOR GLORY! The qualification to get to heaven is PERFECTION. A PERFECTLY SINLESS LIFE. ALL HAVE SINNED, therefore, all are disqualified. We can’t do anything ourselves to qualify. But Jesus does it for us. All we must do is believe. WE MUST TAKE OUR HEAD OUT OF THE CANOE, TURN AND RESPOND TO CHRIST’S CALL. Have you called upon the Lord Jesus to save you? This Christmas, accepted God’s great gift, His Son, Jesus Christ and know that, in Him, you are qualified for glory!
Through this series we‘ve seen that in God’s plan, we as BELIVERS IN CHRIST, are important.
We have seen as Belivers in Christ, we are LOVED by the Father as He loves Christ.
We have seen that as believers in Christ, we are UNDERSTOOD by Christ our brother.
And tonight we have seen that because of Christ, believers have been QUALIFIED for glory!
THIS IS WHY, ‘JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.”
That is the true meaning of Christmas.
