Series: Why This Baby Matters
Title: The Hope of Christmas (adapted from a Stott outline)
Text: 1 Timothy 1:15
Truth: This baby matters because He is the hope of salvation to sinners.
Aim: To clarify the message of Christmas.
INTRODUCTION
Maybe you have heard of Liu Bolin. He is referred to as “the invisible man.” He paints himself into pictures so you can hardly see him. Many times a passerby will not even notice him unless he moves. (Have a slideshow move through the pictures as I explain.)
He graduated from a prestigious school of art in China. The government cracked down on artists and closed his shop. They even forbade artists to live together. He says his pictures convey his feelings that he did not matter. Usually, his pictures are scenes come from typical life in China.
His story made me think of Christmas and Christ. We have decorations, holiday sales events, public schools with their “Winter Break,” Santa Claus and reindeer, Scrooge, and holiday songs like “White Christmas.” With all that surrounds Christmas it may seem as if Christ is the invisible man standing in the midst of all that adorns this season.
Despite the activity and attractions of this holidy, the message still comes through that this baby matters because He is the hope of salvation to sinners. The clear, concise message of Christmas is God has provided salvation for sinners. Nowhere is that more succinctly stated than in 1 Timothy 1:15: This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"—and I am the worst of them.
Paul is writing to his young protégé in the ministry. In chapter one Paul stresses the importance of maintaining true doctrine and refuting false doctrine. Truth matters. That is out of step with the pluralism and political correctness of our day. Paul gives Timothy two actions to take to advance the truth and refute error. Paul tells Timothy to preach the truth and practice a life-style that lives out the truth. Verse 15 is in this section. What truth is Timothy to preach? “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
This baby matters because He gives us the hope of salvation. There are four reasons for our confident hope of salvation. First, our hope is historically true.
I. OUR HOPE IS HISTORICALLY TRUE
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.
The events of the Christmas story actually took place; they are historically true. There is not a legitimate historian in the world, believer or unbeliever, who does not accept the account of the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ as a historical fact. Contrast that certainty with the debate over global warming. Since the disclosure of emails where scientists doctored or hid scientific evidence that did not support their assertion that the planet was in a warming trend, opinions are not so certain of the theory. In this post-modern culture where everyone seems to insist there is no such thing as truth, it is refreshing to come across a man like Paul who says plainly, “Here is the truth.”
There are two stories about Christmas that compete and get confused with one another. One story is about Santa Claus, flying reindeer, and a magical descent down a chimney. The other story is about a baby, a manger for a crib, shepherds, and angels. They have similarities: each speaks of a benevolent visit by an outsider in which generous gifts are brought to needy people. But there is this fundamental difference between them: the modern story surrounding Saint Nick, though he himself was real, is fantasy; Jesus Christ and the story surrounding Him is fact. The Gospel writers understood they were writing history, and the Gospel readers understood the story was true.
The Gospel writers were evangelists. They want to convert the lost to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. So it was important to them that we know this story is true. Consequently, they give very specific historical markers so we know exactly when the events took place. We know Jesus was born during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus. We know He died when Pontius Pilot was the procurator of Judea. The birth and death of Jesus Christ took place during the reign of the Roman Empire. In other words, the incarnation of the Son of God becoming a human is verifiable and factual. Jesus Christ is not a fairy tale. He is not a legend or a myth. A myth is a religious idea that has no historical basis. The events of Christmas really did happen.
Everyone recognizes that the most important issue for a person to consider and decide is if there is a God. If there is a God then what kind of God is He? How foolish to spend your mortal life never considering your immortal life! The gospel story is written in such a way that it can be investigated to determine if it is true or a hoax.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said once that the name of Jesus was “not so much written as ploughed into the history of the world.”
Yale historian Jaroslav Pelikan wrote,
“Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of Western Culture for almost twenty centuries. If it were possible, with some sort of super magnet, to pull up out of the history every scrap of metal bearing at least a trace of his name, how much would be left?”
In other words, even when His name goes unmentioned His impact is huge on this world.
The hope that sinners can be saved is historically true.
This baby matters because He gives us the hope of salvation. A second reason for our confident hope of salvation is our hope is universally available.
II. OUR HOPE IS UNIVERSALLY AVALABLE
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
Paul said in Romans 3:23 that everyone has sinned. Paul reminds Timothy that the gospel is for sinners. That means this gospel is for everyone. It is not for an exclusive minority but for everybody, because everybody needs salvation.
Many are offended to be called a sinner. Have you seen the bumper sticker that says, “Born right the first time?” In the movie Liar, Liar the actor Jim Carrey plays a lawyer named Fletcher Reed. He is a pathological liar. His son wishes, before he blows out his birthday candles, that his father would tell the truth for one whole day. Magically, it becomes impossible for Fletcher to lie about anything. The movie is a comedy, but I wonder if it would be funny if that happened to you. Imagine if, for just twenty-four hours, your mouth was unfiltered in saying what was stirring in your heart and mind. You would not be able to cover up anything you thought or felt. The filters were removed. That would not be a day filled with laughter; that would be a horrible day for you and others. Why? Because at the core of our being, we are sinners.
In Luke 18 a man asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The questioner’s theory is clear: Jesus is a good person, and good people go to heaven, so what must I do to be in the same group? Jesus’ reply is surprising: “Why do you call me good?” Then Jesus answers His own question: “No one is good—except God alone.”
The simple truth is not about good people not getting into heaven; the problem is worse than that. Jesus defined goodness on the basis of being like God, and based on that standard there are no good people anywhere. Because of this, the real question is not about who is good enough to get into heaven. The real question is how God makes it possible for anyone to get in at all. The answer is we must be forgiven, and that forgiveness is won for us by our Savior through the cross.
The Gospel is called Good News because getting to heaven is first and foremost about forgiveness. When Christians speak about assurance of going to heaven it is not a statement of arrogance but of gratitude. We know it is not our life but our Lord that makes this possible. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Our joyous hope is this salvation is available to all sinners.
This baby matters because He gives us the hope of salvation. A third reason for our confident hope of salvation is our hope is Christ-centered.
III. OUR HOPE IS CHRIST-CENTERED
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
This message is centered on Christ. Jesus Himself said so in Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
I was thinking how differently I am celebrating Christmas from Michael and Jennifer Garner. Like most of you, we have a Christmas tree at our home. The Garner’s do not. We are in our home. The Garner’s do not have a home. We have bought gifts for the grandkids without regard for how their parents will get them home. The Garner’s are limited to only six suitcases to take to London. While we sought Christmas gifts, they sought to update and get passports. I am thinking of dollars, they are thinking of the English pound. I will be saying hello, they will be saying goodbye. Why are they getting rid of clutter and I am adding to mine? Because we have something very different at the center of our lives: I am staying, they are leaving. That single commitment has led us to make very different choices about how we live.
George MacDonald, the writer of old, once began a sermon by saying, “If I cannot persuade you to understand a little more of Jesus Christ, my labor is lost in coming to you. If I cannot help any human heart to draw closer to the living one, my labor is lost.”
He went on to ask, “Did the fact ever cross your mind that you are here in this world just to understand the Lord Jesus Christ, and for no other reason?”
Could it be that God has allowed the world to plow the remembrance of Christmas into its economy and social rituals to confront the clutter that has gathered in our lives? We become so caught up in our needs and our priorities, that we lose sight that the central focus is to know and glorify Jesus Christ. Christmas reminds us God has a Savior for lost humanity: it is Jesus Christ alone; our hope is centered in Him.
Sin is my rebellion against what is best for God and what is best for my neighbor. It is going my way instead of God's way. I am the center of my world. Education and experiences may broaden my horizons and awareness of others, but life is still about me. Sin removes God from the throne and takes the place of authority and priority; that is the essence of sin. This rebellion against God brings me under the just judgment of God. If I am ever to have the hope of freedom from guilt and the eternal punishment I deserve, I need a Savior to break me out of this prison of sin. There is One and only One: Jesus Christ.
How is all this possible? The answer is through Jesus Christ who was born, lived a sinless life, died a substitutable death for you and me on the cross, rose from the dead for eternity, and, hallelujah, is returning soon for you and me! Anybody who puts his trust in this Christ and His saving career on this earth will know freedom. He is to be the center of our lives as He is the center of the saving message.
A missionary’s son took the family mission truck on a distant journey. On the way a tire was punctured. He jacked the truck up and crawled under to discover what was wrong. The jack broke and the full weight of that truck fell on the young man. The truck fell so flat it crushed the life out of him, but it fell with such force that it caused his whole body to hemorrhage blood. As a result his entire body turned black. When his black African friends looked at his body they said, “He has become like us in his death.”
Christmas reminds us that this Christ alone has taken our curse and died for our sins. No one else has done that. No one else has even offered to do that for us. Because of His birth, death, and resurrection He alone has made it possible for us to be set free from the guilt and judgment of our sin so we can be restored to an eternal relationship with Christ. Our hope of eternal life and freedom from the guilt of our sin is centered in Christ.
This baby matters because He gives us the hope of salvation. Finally, our confident hope of salvation is personal.
IV. OUR HOPE IS PERSONAL
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I am the worst of them.”
Paul did not just declare that Christ came to save sinners. He went on to say Christ came to save even him, the chief sinner.
Every year at this time people will start making their top ten or top one hundred lists. There is the list for the top one hundred richest people in the world or in America. I have already heard someone give their top ten news stories for 2014. If you were making a list of the top sinners of all time you would expect to see Hitler, Mao, or Pontus Pilate. But when you got to the number one sinner of all time, you would be caught by surprise to find Saul of Tarsus.
In verse 13 he said he was a blasphemer: he spoke evil against Christ. He was a persecutor: he tried to destroy the community of Christ. He was a violent man: he supported the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr for Christ. All of this was true. He even writes it in a way which conveys he still sees himself as the number one sinner of all time.
If God can save the chief of sinners, what is your excuse? Paul says you cannot have been worse than him. If God will forgive him, God will forgive you.
Do you remember the story Jesus told about the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to church to pray? Turn with me, if you would, to Luke 18:9-14. (Read the story.)
The tax collector beat on his chest and called himself “the sinner.” He would argue with Paul about who was the greatest sinner. When the Holy Spirit brings real conviction to a person’s life, there are no more arguments or excuses with God. We give that up. We eagerly embrace Christ’s salvation for our own sin.
Ultimately the Christmas story is not about magi, gifts, moving stars, or no room in the inn. This story is about you. Will you be saved? Will you, the sinner, receive the gift of salvation from the only Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ? Christmas is about the certainty that you can be saved.
CONCLUSION
Some Bible students were asked to draw a picture of their relationship with God. When it was time to explain his drawing one student said that he was not good at drawing, but he did have a picture that described his relationship with God. It was an advertisement for A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
In the advertisement is a picture of a huge, crabby Scrooge. He looms over a tiny, cringing Bob Cratchet. The student said the angry, condemning Scrooge was God and the frightened, withdrawing Cratchet was he.
If that were your picture of God, no wonder He would be the last person you would look to for hope! That is not the God the woman caught in adultery met. It is not the God the despised tax collector Zacchaeus met. It is not the God the thief on the cross met. They all met the God of Christmas.
This baby matters because Christmas tells us that you matter to God. Christmas reminds you that God came on a rescue mission to show you mercy. This is why we have the hope of salvation. This is Good News.
