We’re continuing our Christmas series in hopes of fostering a more meaningful Christmas. We get so busy with travel plans, shopping, parties and the like that we forget whose birthday we are celebrating. Christmas celebrates Jesus’ birthday.
The December 1999 issue of Time Magazine contained an article titled “Man of the Millennium,” naming Jesus Christ as the single most powerful figure – in all human history. He surpassed people like Muhammad, Catherine the Great, Marx, Gandhi, and others. As we pondered who Jesus was last Sunday, we concluded that he was more than a persuasive leader or a moral teacher, but that he was the Son of God, equal to God.
This morning we will look at why Jesus came. In other words, why did God come in the form of a Jewish man some two thousand years ago? Was he like a manager at your work, coming to “inspect what he expect”? Was he coming to build trust and gain support like the politicians?
If I ask you why Jesus came, how would you answer? Maybe some of you would reply, “He came to save us.” Or, “He came to die for our sins.” Or, “He came to reveal God to us.” Or, “He came to show us He loved us.” Or, “He came to fulfill what was said about Him in the Old Testament.” These are all true, and in His coming, Jesus accomplished much more.
A good place to learn why Jesus came is in one of the four records of Jesus’ life in the Bible, the record by Luke. Luke records the birth of Jesus, His infancy, a brief episode of Jesus’ boyhood, the baptism of Jesus, and the temptation of Jesus in the desert. What we will look at this morning is an early episode in Jesus’ public ministry, Luke 4:14-21.
When I was in college, I loved a girl who had no clue that I loved her. She already had a boyfriend, and she saw that we were just good friends. One time, when she told me how much she was hurting, I wrote her a poem. The poem was about a person who cared a lot about her hurts and wanted to be there for her. I was describing myself, and I eventually told her.
God wrote a letter through His prophet Isaiah about a Person who would come and set His people free. God was talking about Himself. And God came in Jesus Christ to tell His people that Isaiah was describing Him. From this excerpt of Isaiah’s writing, we can learn why Jesus came. Let’s look together.
First, Jesus came to free us from our poverty. Verse 18.
Jesus didn’t come to make us all middle class Americans with a three-bedroom house and a two-car garage. He didn’t come to end poverty or balance the socio-economic classes. Yet, Jesus did come to free us from our poverty.
Many of us do not see that we are living in poverty. We see poverty in those children to whom we sent the shoeboxes full of toys. We see poverty in those on the television for whom donations are made. We see poverty in those who are homeless and without sufficient nutritional or medical care.
Esther has several pieces of gold jewelry in our safety deposit box. We don’t let her wear them, because she isn’t responsible enough to handle them. Instead, we let her wear toy necklaces and bracelets that we don’t mind having broken or lost. But she is quite content with them. All she cares is that they are purple and sparkly.
God has given us priceless gifts that we are either unaware of or have ignored. Instead we are content with things that can break, go out of style or be stolen. The more we have of these things that can break, go out of style or be stolen, the wealthier we feel. And the wealthier we feel, the more difficult for us to see our true poverty.
Yet, Jesus came to set us free from our poverty by recovering our vision for life as God intended. Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “… a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Our wealth consists of things that cannot break, rot or be stolen.
For instance, God made us in his image. But many times we’re more concerned about our personal image than God’s image. Our personal image comes from how we present ourselves and how we measure up according to worldly success. God’s image in us comes from how much we are like Jesus Christ.
God gave us companionship through the people He put into our lives. But many times we are more concerned about our paychecks, promotions and possessions than we are about people. Things are not eternal; people are; and true wealth has eternal permanence.
God gave us Jesus Christ to restore our relationship with God. But we are more concerned about friendship with this world and how much we can get out of this life. Friendship with God and eternal life rarely make their way to our asset sheets.
In Matthew 5:3, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If you believe you are wealthy enough with earthly goods, you are blind to the wealth of heaven. But if you see your poverty without God, the good news is that God wants to give Himself and His eternal blessings to you.
Romans 8:32 tells us, “[God] who did not spare his own Son [Jesus Christ], but gave him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Do you see how wealthy God intended us to be? Do you see how poor we were before?
Second, Jesus came to free us from our prisons. Verse 18.
We are all prisoners; some of us simply hide our prison bars better than others. The rapist, the arsonists, the murderers behind metal bars can rarely deny their need to be set free. But the rest of us whose prison bars are less obvious either deny or don’t realize we need to be set free.
We are behind the prison bars of fear, the bars of worry, the bars of regret, the bars of guilt, the bars of self-righteousness, and the bars of our decaying body. These bars are as real and able to isolate us, imprison us and separate us from God and from other people as are metal bars. And Jesus came to set us free.
Jesus tells us in John 8:31, "If you hold to my [Jesus’] teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." God sets prisoners free by giving us the truth in His Word, the Bible. These truths are the keys that can open up the prison doors of our lives.
There was a time when I was afraid of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 reads, “Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death about death.” Because Jesus died and rose again, and He said we could also, fear of death no longer imprisons me.
Yesterday, as I drove my family out to Todai, an all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant, Susan asked if I were excited. I told her I lost my appetite as I worked on this message. God was showing me how I’ve been a prisoner of the sins in my life. Some of these sins include self-righteousness, selfishness and lack of faith. Soon, I found myself in the prison of self-condemnation.
But I also knew that God had a key to set me free from self-condemnation and from each of the sins that imprisoned me. I was reminded of Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Sin led to regret, guilt, condemnation and separation from God and people, but Jesus’ death on the cross freed us from sin’s condemnation.
Because Jesus came, we don’t have to live as prisoners any longer. He has given us the keys to open our prison doors. These keys are found in the pages of the Bible. We simply have to use them.
Third, Jesus came to free us from our payment. Verse 19.
The year of the Lord’s favor is that God-appointed time when debts are forgiven and slaves are set free. Jesus’ coming designates the beginning of this time of God’s favor.
If you were familiar with the portion of Isaiah that Jesus read from, you would know that Jesus intentionally stopped reading before the end of the sentence. He left out, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” That is the time when God will judge the world. Jesus didn’t read that because the time of God’s judgment has not yet come. When Jesus comes again, He will judge the world. But for now, we live in the time of God’s favor.
C.H. Spurgeon once told about a pastor who went to visit a widow from his congregation. He brought her some money and groceries, but no one seemed to be home. Later that evening, the widow showed up at church, and the Pastor told her about his visit.
The widow slightly embarrassed replied, “I was home. I didn’t respond to the knocking because I though you were the owner come to collect rent. And I didn’t have enough money.”
Maybe God is knocking at the door of your heart this morning. He is Owner of you and me by right of creation. You don’t want to ignore Him. He came to bring good news. He’s not here to collect rent. He wants us to know that our debts are forgiven and that He has set us free.
Romans 3:23-26 reads, “[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
If you’ve been listening this morning, you would know that Jesus came to set us free from poverty, prisons and payment. But why? Why would our majestic Creator don the clothes of a common creature? Why would the almighty God descend from Heaven to earth?
I received an email this week from a old college friend who is reading Max Lucado’s book, “Next Door Savior.” She emailed me a story from that book about Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon. Let me close by reading from this email:
“A man had been injured in a fire while attempting to save his parents from a burning house. He couldn’t get to them. They perished. His face was burned and disfigured. He mistakenly interpreted his pain as God’s punishment. The man wouldn’t let anyone see him – not even his wife.”
“She went to Dr. Maltz, a plastic surgeon, for help. He told the woman not to worry. ‘I can restore his face.’”
The wife was unenthused. Her husband had repeatedly refused any help. She knew he would again.
Then why her visit [to Dr. Maltz]? “I want you to disfigure my face so I can be like him! If I can share in his pain, then maybe he will let me back into his life.”
Dr. Maltz was shocked. He denied her request but was so moved by this woman’s love that he went to speak with her husband. Knocking on the man’s bedroom door, he called loudly, “I’m a plastic surgeon, and I want you to know that I can restore your face.”
No response.
“Please come out.”
Again, there was no answer.
Still speaking through the door, Dr. Maltz told the man of his wife’s proposal. “She wants me to disfigure her face, to make her face like yours in the hope that you will let her back into your life. That’s how much she loves you.”
There was a brief moment of silence, and then, ever so slowly, the doorknob began to turn.
The way the woman felt for her husband is the way God feels about us. But He did more than make the offer. He took on our face, our disfigurement. He became like us. Just look at the places he was willing to go: feed troughs, carpentry shops, badlands, and cemeteries. The places He went to reach us show how far He will go to touch us.”
Why did Jesus come? He came to set us free. Why? Because of love. And love has caused the Greatest Lover to do the unbelievable. And the response Jesus wants from us is to let Him into our lives.
