Freedom of the Christ child
Introduction-
Last week we looked at preparing for Christmas.
That this Christmas would not be like all the others. (busy and empty)
After all the gifts are opened that we would not still have that void down deep in our hearts because there are some things that cannot be bought.
I again remind you to do an act of kindness without anyone knowing. Doing it as unto the Lord.
We need to experience the joy of giving. Remember it is not about money. We can be broke to the broke broke and still give someone your time, your talents, your wisdom, a shoulder to cry on.
It will change you forever.
Isaiah 61:1-3
This passage of scripture is Good News for the oppressed.
I don’t know if you are like me, but I enjoy watching people.
If you want to feel better about yourself, just go to the mall and sit on the benches for awhile.
You watch people yelling and screaming at the kids.
One side of you I am glad I have not lost it like those parents.
Another side, glad my kids are not that bad!
Watch crouchy old people, cursing husbands, half dressed people, bad habits, and you sit there until you can praise the Lord for what we are going through.
People that don’t know Jesus, most have chosen not to care about the things of God.
You see in their faces burdens, guilt , people who have sinful habits that they cannot break.
They live everyday of their lives in a cycle of despair and depression.
We have, (you and I), a responsibility of telling them how they can throw away their prison clothes of sin and put on a robe of righteousness (Jesus).
Again, this is not a traditional Advent message.
I make no apologies because I believe it to be from the Lord.
Advent is about preparing ourselves and preparing others for the coming of the Lord.
For us, it is the promise of His second coming.
For Isaiah, he was preparing them (Nation of Israel) for the coming of the Christ child.
How can you help others learn about the freedom of Christ? Isaiah knew the answer.
Bringing the good news of God’s rescue to them through Jesus the Nazarene.
There is no substitute of telling people of the message of the gospel.
Israel understood bondage. They were captured, oppressed, enslaved, and ruled upon for a very long time.
Assyrians
Persians
Romans
At the time of Jesus birth, more than 7 centuries of captivity.
All the while they would move away from God and then cry out to Him.
Isaiah the prophet brought a message of deliverance.
There is coming a day that you can be set free.
When Jesus came as a baby in that manger and later grew to be a man. Most still had not understood salvation and freedom.
Did you know?
If any Roman citizen would come up to a Jew and slap them in the face, there was nothing they could do about it.
The Jews could lose their job to a roman citizen, so most held jobs nobody else wanted.
Roman soldiers could literally take your coat off your back or force you to carry their 45 lb. backpack for a mile if they wanted too.
If you didn’t pay your taxes, you could become a slave and work almost forever to pay it off.
They understood captivity but did not understand freedom.
(1) “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.”
The Spirit of God would empower the servant (Jesus) to bring the promise of salvation and blessing.
The anointed one, the messiah, would proclaim the Good News of God. Jesus proclaimed this message as his mission. His mission of coming to a needy world, His second coming, when life has run out, He will establish his kingdom and judge all humanity.
Most do not understand the urgency of their relationship with Christ and His salvation offered?
The same that most don’t see Jesus coming as a baby as a beginning to the prophecy of His coming.
People think it terrible that someone would steal a Christ baby from a manger scene, but nothing wrong with rejecting that same Christ in their life.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Eph. 6:12
You and I are affected by sin
We are affected by our parent’s baggage, original sin of Adam.
God’s Word says that He (Jesus) has “rescued” us from sin.
There is plenty of Jesus to go around-
Jesus came for the whole world.
All that would put their trust in Him.
Jesus came (Christmas) to disarm the power and authority of sin, and gives us victory at the cross (Easter)
Israel understood bondage, but not freedom- (3rd time, planting a seed)
It is not about Republican or Democrat; it is not about Clinton, Trump, or any other candidate, Babylon, Persia, Romans.
The problem is no kingdom will stand without Jesus Christ.
It is not about health care, or refugees, it is about people not knowing God. You know why there is war? Because they don’t know Jesus. You don’t love God, you cannot love others!
You have no value of your own life; you will not have value of someone else’s life.
“He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be set freed.”
Jesus has come for the oppressed, the brokenhearted, the hurting, the afflicted, the addicted, and He has come to set us free!
Isaiah speaks to Israel, and I believe that God is still speaking to us today, that restoration of spiritual and physical blessing will come as we return to God.
At Christmas time, we expect pastors and full time ministers to bring the promises of God. We forget that each one of us is a full time minister where God has placed us.
1 Peter 2:5-
“You are living stones that God is building into a spiritual temple.”
We cannot do a good job with the Good News if we feel it is someone’s else’s job or if sitting on the pews is enough.
We are surrounded by a world that desperately needs to know Jesus as Lord and savior.
(Not just part of a manger scene)
Take it as a personal call-
“He has sent me”- to comfort, to go to the brokenhearted, to those that mourn.”
The word for darkness is the Hebrew means “open eyes”
We are to pull people out of the darkness. Like when our pupils enlarge so that we can see better in the dark.
We are called, each one of us to recover the sight of the blind.
Wow, next week is the week I was going to ask you to invite people to a Christmas message, still do that, but you are getting two Jesus messages!
God news, Gospel, Jesus Christ! They go together!
“To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy, instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.”
Along time ago, I ministered to a young man who had an addiction. Don’t try to figure out who and when. Hear his story. After telling him that Christ could set him free, tears running down his face, Christ would do that for me? He already has- just receive it!
That is the Jesus that came to this world!
He has come to the poor and brokenhearted and with Him is hope for the hopeless.
He has given you and me authority over the things that bind us.
He has given us the authority to help others. “Greater is he who is in you, than he who is in the world.”
Closing,
Steps to freedom
Receive- “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
Our freedom is based on what Christ has done for us.
If we are really followers of the Christ child, we will follow His teachings.
Speak it- “If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.” We will tell others what Jesus has done for us and wanting to speak the Good News to their lives.
Sow it- The world says to hold unto everything you get, and the kingdom of God says I need to give some away for the sake of the kingdom.
Receive Him
Speak about Him
Sow to the Kingdom
Then it becomes more than just looking into the manger, it becomes that He becomes Lord of your life. What do you say?
Amen.
