OPEN: Humorist Dave Barry once wrote about gifts that were given to Jesus by the Wise Men. He suggested that if you carefully analyzed what the Bible tells us, you’d find there was an overlooked theological fact in the story. There is no mention of wrapping paper. Now why would the wisemen not use wrapping paper? First, they were wise. Secondly, they were men. When it comes to wrapping gifts, men seem to lack the necessary skills. You can always tell WHICH GIFTS (under the tree) were wrapped by men.
For example, these pictures show the kinds of gift-wrapping you’d expect from men: (we showed pictures of the following items gift-wrapped in such an obvious way, you knew exactly what the gift was: Golf bag; Chair; Pan; Drill; Iron; Guitar; Motorcycle).
Whoever did that gift-wrapping didn’t even attempt to disguise gift within. And yet, the 1st Christmas present was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. There’s something about Jesus as a baby lying in a feeding trough that seems to disguise the gifts that lay inside the manger.
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at the gifts that were wrapped up in Jesus. And today we’re going to focus on a very intriguing gift the gift that Jesus was our mediator.
Our text today declares that: “There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” I Timothy 2:5-6
A Mediator (pause) what exactly is a mediator? A mediator is a middle man. A mediator intervenes between two parties – either to resolve a conflict or to make sure that one party is able to obtain a product or service from someone else.
ILLUS: For example, someone (Sherm Nichols) once observed: “The carpet outlet store tells me to buy direct from them – they’ll eliminate the middleman and save me money. ‘Buy direct! Who needs a middle man?’ That’s fine if you’re buying carpet, or a car, or dog food… but what about our relationship with God? Do we need a go-between or not? Well, it turns out that we do. We Need a Mediator between ourselves and God.
The question, of course, is – WHY do we need Jesus? Why did we need Him as our “middle man”, our Mediator? Well, 2 reasons come to mind:
1st – with Jesus you’re going to get something you couldn’t get anyplace else. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus “is the Mediator of New Covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15)
ILLUS: You see, back in the Old Testament, God made a promise of a New Covenant - a New Covenant that was going to be better than the Old Covenant that He’d made with Israel back in the days of Moses.
And in that New Covenant, God promised: “I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34
Now I could preach a series of sermons just on that promise from God. But the point is, Jesus WAS the Middle Man, and He had come to make sure that we obtained that New agreement from God. Because without Jesus that agreement wouldn’t happen.
That New Covenant promised that we’d have a personal relationship with God. He would be our God, and we would be His people. And He would remember our sins NO MORE.
Now, there are people out there who’ll say that you don’t need Jesus to do that. “You can buy direct from us! You don’t need a middle man. You don’t need Jesus . All you need is… US.”
Now there’s a couple of problems with that - 1st you have to TAKE THEIR WORD for it. When they say you can “Buy Direct” from them (without Jesus) they’re asking you to TRUST THEM!!!
Now the difference between Jesus and the “buy direct from us” groups is that Jesus has credentials - and they don’t. For 2000 years, the Bible predicted that a Messiah would come, and there were 100s of prophecies about where He’d be born; what He’d teach; how He’d die; and how He’d raise from the dead (over 300 direct prophecies & 100s of indirect prophecies). And Jesus fulfilled ALL those prophecies! And, of course, He ALSO proved who He was by His miracles, His powerful teachings, and by rising from the dead.
Now, by contrast – none of the founders of any other world religion can claim that. BUDDHA (for example) was born about 500 years before Jesus. But there were no prophecies that a man would come along like him. No prophecies to declare where he’d be born; what he’d teach; how he’d die; and, of course… Buddha is still in his grave.
And about 500 years AFTER Jesus was born there was a man named MOHAMMED. But there were no prophecies that a man would come along like him. No prophecies to declare where he’d be born, what he’d teach, how he’d die. And, of course… Mohammed is still in his grave.
But Jesus isn’t in his grave… he is risen from the dead!
In addition, not one world religion - except the one Jesus gave us - NOT ONE OF THEM promises to make it so God will remember your sins no more. Every world religion teaches Karma (in one fashion or another). If you want your sins forgiven, you gotta earn it! YOU have to do enough good deeds to pay for your bad deeds. And how do you know when you’ve done enough good deeds? Well… you can’t. You just have to hope you’ve done enough. It’s kind of like whistling in the dark.
But when the Bible talks about hope, it’s not wishing - hoping - you’ve done enough. With Jesus that hope is a sure thing. In Colossians it talks about “the mystery of God “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). With Jesus, HOPE is a SURE THING!
Your hope for forgiveness doesn’t depend upon your good works. It depends upon the faithfulness of God based upon His promise that He would forgive all our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Now, that brings up the other reason we need Jesus as Mediator (Middle Man). Someone noted that “Mediators are called in to settle disputes. Usually there’s been some kind of disagreement or someone’s been wronged, like in OUR relationship with God. There’s a rift (a chasm) between God and us… and we created it.”
A rift? What caused this rift? What caused this separation/chasm between us and God? Well, it’s called sin.
Romans 3:23 – “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God is righteous… and you aren’t (neither am I). And our unrighteousness – our SIN - creates a great chasm between us and God (we showed a picture on the screen that showed a great chasm between God and us). Our sin makes it so we can’t BELONG with God. But God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son to bridge the gap between us and Him.
In John 5:24 Jesus declared: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has passed over from death to life.” (We showed another graphic with the cross of Christ crossing the chasm between God and us; Graphics found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gr0xXfR3L8).
CLOSE: In a Christian college, one of the professors taught a Bible Survey course for freshmen. He tried hard to explain the meaning of what Christ had done for us, but most of the students seemed bored and unimpressed.
One year there was a student named Steve in the class who played on the college football team. Steve was a gifted 4.0 student as well as a great athlete.
After class, professor said, “Steve how many pushups do you think you can do?” Steve said, “I usually do about 200 pushups a day.” The professor said, “For class tomorrow, would you be willing to do some pushups for me to illustrate something.” Steve said, “Sure.” And then they talked about what the professor planned.
The next morning, as the students arrived, they saw the professor had a couple of boxes of really delicious donuts on his desk, and their mouths watered. They assumed they’d have a “donut party” instead of class.
The professor took a box of donuts and went to a girl on the front row and asked, “Cynthia, would you like a donut?” She said, “Yes!” And the prof turned to Steve and said, “Steve would you do 10 pushups so Cynthia can have a donut?” Steve jumped down and did ten and then returned to his seat. The students laughed and cheered, and the professor gave Cynthia a donut. Then the prof went to the next student and said, “Joe, would you like a donut.” When he nodded the professor said, “Steve will you do 10 more pushups so Joe can have a donut?” Steve dropped down and did another ten pushups. And so it continued. For every student who got a donut, Steve asked to do 10 pushups.
After 6 or 7 students, Steve was sweating and the students were no longer smiling. The professor came to Mike, a member of the basketball team. Mike said, “I can do my own ten pushups.” The professor said, “No, that’s not the way it works. Steve has to do the pushups.” Mike said, “then I don’t want a donut.” The professor shrugged and said, “Steve, please do ten pushups so Mike can have a donut.” When Steve started the pushups, Mike shouted, “HEY! I said I didn’t want a donut.” The professor turned to the entire class and said, “Listen: This is my class, these are my desks, this is my plan.” As he laid a donut on Mike’s desk he said, “If you don’t want your donut just leave it on the desk. I won’t force you to eat it.” As the professor went to each student, Steve did 10 pushups.
By now he was slowing down and sweating profusely. He didn’t even get up between sets; he stayed on the floor waiting for the next set. The students began to get angry. As he came to Jenny on the third row he said, “Jenny do you want a donut?” She said, “No, and don’t make Steve do pushups.” The professor laid a donut on her desk and said, “Steve do ten pushups so Jenny can have the donut she doesn’t want.” By now ALL students were saying, “No” and their desks were covered with uneaten donuts.
And Steve was having a rough time trying to comply with the order to do pushups. His arms were shaking and he could hardly raise himself after each effort. One of the members of the class was an unbeliever and when the professor asked him if he wanted a donut he angrily replied, “You’re crazy, and this is a stupid plan.” As the professor put a donut on Robert’s desk he said, “Some people say that. Steve do 10 pushups so Robert can have a donut he doesn’t want.” Soon, the only sound to be heard in the classroom was Steve’s heavy breathing and a few quiet sobs from some of the girls. Steve agonized over each effort. He had to take several seconds to try to rest between each effort. By now he had done over 25 sets of ten pushups.
When the professor came to the last student he said, “Susan, would you like a donut? With tears streaming down her face she said, “Why can’t I help him?” The professor was on the verge of tears himself as he said, “No, Steve has to do it alone. I looked in my grade book and Steve is the only student with a perfect A+ average. He’s the only student who hasn’t skipped class, or missed turning in an assignment. Steve told me when someone messes up in football practice - have to do pushups. So Steve and I made a deal. Since all of you have messed up in my class, Steve has agreed to do 10 pushups so each of you can enjoy the donut.” He turned to an exhausted Steve and said, “Steve, do ten more pushups for Susan to have a donut.” As Steve slowly finished the last pushup, he said, “It is finished” and he dropped flat on the floor.
The professor turned to the stunned students and said, “As so it was, that our Savior, Jesus, gave His all on the cross to pay for our sins. With the understanding that He had done everything required of Him, He yielded up His life and said, ‘It is finished.’ And like some of the students in this room, many people leave the gift on the desk, untouched.”
Then professor turned to Steve and said, “Well, done, good and faithful servant. Class dismissed.”
INVITATION
