OPEN: Christmas is a busy season for most people. There are the decorations, bright lights, Christmas caroling, and all kinds of family gatherings, Church and school activities it can wear a person out.
One woman, for example waited until last minute to send out her Christmas cards. She had 49 folks on her list. So she rushed into a store and she bought a package of 50 cards without really looking at them. Still in a big hurry, she addressed the 49 and signed them without reading the message inside. On Christmas Day when things had quieted down a bit, she found the leftover card buried under some papers on her dining room table and she finally read the message she had sent to 49 of her friends. Much to her dismay, it read like this: “This card is just to say / A little gift is on the way.” Suddenly she realized, 49 of her friends were expecting a gift - that would never come.
APPLY: That poor woman didn’t take time to think about what sending out and she ended up promising a gift she couldn’t give.
By contrast, God spent centuries telling His people the gift He intended to give them. He described that gift in detail so that, when Jesus came, over 300 prophecies described WHO He was, and WHAT He was to do. And, when He showed up, Anna knew exactly WHO He was. We’re told: “She began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” Luke 2:38
THIS CHILD HAD BEEN BORN TO BRING REDEMPTION! In fact, that’s a repeated theme throughout the New Testament.
Jesus IS repeatedly referred to as THE ONE who would redeem us. Galatians 3:13 tells us “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” And in Titus 2:14 we’re told (Jesus) “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” And Colossians 1:13-14 declares “(God) has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Now THESE words - “redeem” and “redemption” are… interesting. What does it mean that Jesus “REDEEMED” us? Well, my first thought was that it meant that Jesus’ blood has bought us. And while that’s true… but it’s more than that.
ILLUS: To help us understand the concept of redemption a little story. It seems a young boy named Tom and his father had built a small toy boat together. It took quite a long time to do that… but when it was finished – it was beautiful. And Tom could hardly wait! On a wonderful Spring day, he took the toy boat down to the river, attached a string to it, and carefully placed it in the water. The little boat looked almost real as it floated on the river. BUT SUDDENLY, a strong current caught the boat and as Tom tried to pull it back to shore, the string broke. The little boat raced downstream and Tom running along the shore as fast as he could but his boat quickly slipped out of sight. All afternoon he searched for the boat. Finally, when it was too dark … and Tom sadly went home.
A few days later, on the way home from school, Tom spotted a boat just like his in a store window. When he got closer, he could see--sure enough--it was his! He hurried into the store manager: "Sir, that's my boat in your window! I made it!" "Sorry, son. Someone else brought it in this morning. If you want it, you'll have to buy it." So, Tom ran home and counted all his money. It took all the money he had, but he bought back the little boat he’d made. As he left the store, Tom hugged his boat and said, "Now you're twice mine. First, I made you, and now I’ve bought you."
Now, what does that tell us about redemption? Redemption literally means to “buy something back.” It belonged to you but, for whatever reason you had to “redeem” it, or buy it back. That little boy had OWNED that boat, but – in order to get it back - he had to redeem it.
Pawn Shops do this all the time. People will come and pawn a watch/ computer/ TV to get extra money. BUT then they have a limited amount of time they can come back and “redeem” that object for the “pawn” price PLUS interest. The person who pawned that item had OWNED IT… but in order to get it back they had to redeem it.
Now, this is what this means to us. God made you. You were MADE in His image. You literally belonged to God. If you don’t understand that truth (that you were made in God’s image) then you might begin to think you aren’t worth very much.
ILLUS: Do you remember the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life? (Jimmy Stewart). In the movie, Stewart’s character tries to trade his life insurance policy. The trouble is that the policy really wasn’t worth anything unless he died. His arch enemy gives him an evil grin and says, ‘It looks like you’re worth more dead than you are alive.’
Without knowing that God created you, THAT’S what you might believe.
The theory of Evolution (for example) teaches that you and I are accidents of nature. We have no inherent value or purpose (they say) because we are the result of the unfocused interactions of matter. As far as having intrinsic value… YOU HAVE NONE. Evolution teaches that you’re essentially no different than a frog, or a tree, or a piece of moss. All you are (according to them) is just a collection of mindless molecules
But the Bible tells you that’s not true. YOU ARE valuable; YOU DO have a purpose; YOU HAVE a reason to exist. And all that’s true, because God thought you were worth His time. He created you. He made you in His image.
Genesis tells us that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. … The LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Genesis 1:27 & 2:7
Someone once said: “Evolution sees you as one step above the apes. But Scripture sees you as one step beneath the angels.” Allen Webster.
So we were created in God’s image. God made us… He owned us… we were His treasured possession.
So, what went wrong? How did God (Who made us) … lose us? What went wrong? Well… sin went wrong. God formed us, but Sin DE-formed us. Sin robbed us of our relationship to God. Romans 6:23 “the wages of sin is death” – OUR SIN. Our sin condemned us to an eternity without God. If God was going to get us back He needed to buy us back. He would need to REDEEM us.
And that was recognized way back in the Old Testament. That’s why Job declared: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” (Job 19:25) God’s plan was to be our redeemer and all through the Old Testament God pointed to that truth.
But how was God going to do that? How was He going to “buy us back?” How was He going to redeem us?
Galatians 4:4-7 explains: “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
That’s WHY Jesus was born - born of a woman, born under the Law! He was born (God in the flesh) to be our redeemer, to be the one… who would “buy us back.” God FORMED us; Sin DEFORMED us; BUT… Jesus TRANFORMS us. (I found this last phrase in a graphic on the internet).
Now, did that happen when Jesus was born in the manger? Was THAT when Jesus redeemed us? Well, no. Galatians 3:13 tells us “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” On a tree? WHERE was Jesus hung on a tree? That’s right - our redemption took place at the cross. When Jesus died at Calvary He paid the price for our sins.
We deserved to die… but Jesus took our place.
I saw this meme on FB that explained that Jesus came to die. “If He had not come, this babe in the manger; If God had not loved, restraining His anger; I would be lost… forever a stranger. BUT God so loved; Jesus so died; And I… so live.”
Now, most of us who have been in church all your lives… we all know this. It’s the basic message of the Gospel! But the question this morning is this: Does It Matter To You? You’ve heard the Gospel message all your life… but does it still matter to you?
You know, it’s possible, after hearing the message over and over again, that you can get calloused and not take it seriously. You might continue to come to church Sunday after Sunday and not even give that a 2nd thought
ILLUS: You know what a gift card is? Lots of people buy gift cards for others on Christmas and birthdays and such. And YOU can buy your own gift card for yourself. Lots of companies talk about “REDEEMING” your gift card. In other words, the money on the card is yours, but you have to present the card to the business to redeem the amount on the card. A few weeks ago, I took my sister Donna out to eat up in Plymouth for Thanksgiving, and I took her to Applebee’s. As we drove up, I saw on their marquee, that if you bought a $50 gift card, you’d receive $10 bonus card for FREE. So I bought one. They wouldn’t let me use the $10 bonus card that day, so I put our meals (that day) on the “gift card”. Last week I went to the Applebee’s here in Logansport and I used the bonus card first (so I could get it out of my wallet for good), and put the balance on the gift card. The receipt said (after everything was paid for) I had $10 left on the gift card. Pleased, I put my coat on and walked out of the restaurant and got into my car. Just as I was about 10 blocks away, I realized I’d left the gift card (with the $10 balance) on the table. I turned around and went back to the restaurant… and it was gone. The waitress who’d cleaned off the table was apologetic and looked in the garbage to try and find it. But it was gone. I’d lost it.
I felt really bad about that. I’d lost $10. But I consoled myself I with the knowledge – it was just $10. That was the value of the bonus card that I hadn’t really paid for. Essentially, I paid a total of $50 and got $50 worth of food from Applebee’s. I got what I paid for! So I didn’t feel so bad. I felt stupid… but it didn’t really cost me anything, so it really didn’t matter ALL THAT MUCH to me.
The same thing can happen to Christians. Christ’s gift on the cross cost Jesus everything, but it really didn’t cost us anything. And because it didn’t cost us anything, we might be tempted (over time) to not consider it all that important. So, how can I make sure that that doesn’t happen to me!
Well, the best way not to forget is what Jesus left us as a central part of our worship: “The Lord’s Supper.” We take of every week so we won’t forget why we’re hear. That’s what Jesus said. We’re told that “the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” I Corinthians 11:23-26
It’s at this table – EVERY SUNDAY – that we’re faced with that simple message: “If He had not come, this babe in the manger; If God had not loved, restraining His anger; I would be lost… forever a stranger. BUT God so loved; Jesus so died; And I… so live.”
INVITATION
