The Gift of Christ - Pastor Tom Loghry
This Christmas, we remember the gift that God has given us through the sending of His Son.
Transcript:
Today's scripture reading comes from Hebrews chapter two verses 14 through 18. Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of the death, of death-- that is the devil-- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason, he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he may, he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Among the bills and junk mail, we sometimes find a Christmas card from a loved one when we go to the mailbox. Words on a paper, perhaps stringing along a connection once enjoyed in person, but now separated by distance. The only thing better is their presence-- and by that I don't mean their gifts, I mean actually seeing them face to face. I love words, but people are better than words. Love falls short of its fullest form in the abstract. A mountain of words cannot compare with the experience of being those, being with those we love and who love us.
We know this and, and more importantly, God knows this. This is why in the beginning, when God created human beings, we find him present in the garden with Adam and Eve-- we were created to live with God and to share in his holiness and his goodness as those made in his image. But the man and the woman chose a different path. Satan in the form of the serpent persuaded them that they should desire to be their own gods, living life on their own terms apart from the wisdom of God. Every one of us has followed in the footsteps of Adam and Eve, our hearts so corrupted that none of us do what's right. At the end of the day, we always fall short of the perfection that's needed for us to be able to dwell with God. None of us can close the distance and make amends. And so we live, we sin, and we die.
The good news of Christmas is that our story doesn't end that way. The good news of Christmas is that while we couldn't close the gap, God can, and he has done just that. At Christmas, God gives us his son. The triune God, sends his son to us. Why? Because he loves us.
The Apostle John in 1 John chapter four, verses nine through 10 says this, this is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
You see, we don't get into God's good graces by our motion towards him. He doesn't send his son to us because we were loving him. No, we were, we were hateful. We despised God. We rejected him. And yet God loved us even when we didn't want to have anything to do with him. God makes the first move in bringing us back to himself, and that move is substantiated, not in him giving us some teaching. Not by giving us some policy or handing down some form of technology. The substance of his love for us is manifest in the person of his son. He sends his son so that we might live through him.
Now, you might ask how, how is it that we live through the Son? The way in which we come to live through the son of God is by the sacrifice that he offers, the atoning sacrifice that he offers for our sins. Again, our problem, the great human problem is we have divided ourselves from God by our sinfulness, by the evil that we welcome into our hearts rather than God himself. And so there's this question of, well, who can make amends? Who can make us one with God again?
And this leads us into the mystery of the incarnation. When we say that Jesus is the Son of God, we are not merely saying that Jesus is the most highly favored human being. Now, you could say that, but you can't merely say that 'cause Jesus is more than a mere man. We are saying that Jesus is the one and same person as the Son of God, the Son who has eternally existed, the Son who shares in the full divinity of the Father and the Holy Spirit, the one God who is also at the same time, three persons. On Christmas, God does something that was unprecedented.
Turning to Hebrews one, verses one through verse three A, the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us in the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Notice the differentiation that's being introduced here. If Jesus was a mere prophet, he wouldn't really be anything all that new. There's been prophets in the past. What the writer of Hebrews is saying here, though, is Jesus is different. Yes, God spoke through the prophets in the past, but now he sends to us his son. The son is the radiance of God's glory. He is the exact representation of God. In fact, the writer says that everything that exists was made through Jesus. It's passages like this, and others across the New Testament that leads us to understand that the son is in fact fully God. He's not a demi God, he is not half God. He is fully God because everything we would say about God applies to him.
The son of God became human, miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Not half human, fully human, while also fully divine.
Now you might ask, well, why is that necessary? Why? Why do we have to get that all sorted? That he's not half and half, but he is in fact fully human and fully divine? Why is it necessary that he become one of us? If we go to chapter two of the epistle to the Hebrews, we're taking some distance in understanding why.
As was read earlier, verses 14 through 18 in chapter two, since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death-- that is, the devil-- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels whom he helps, but Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he's able to help those who are being tempted.
We can come to understand why the incarnation is necessary, why it's necessary that the son take on human flesh and become fully human even while he is also fully God, when we fully grasp the human situation. When we comprehend that we are captives to death and sin, no one escapes death, and no one escapes death because all of us are sinners. Yes, we judge ourselves relative to one another. We say, oh, well, that person's really bad. That person's not. That person seems good to compare to that person. But the standard is not each other. The standard is the holiness of the God whom we were created to reflect.
If we are going to be liberated from this captivity, it's necessary that someone would arise who is innocent, who can't be found guilty. It's necessary that there be found someone who is righteous, who doesn't fall prey to sin. It's necessary that there be someone who can break death's power. And that someone needs to be human because the debt is a human debt. It must be paid by us. And sin is a human corruption, something that's infected and, and spoiled us. And death is a human affliction, something that must be broken at some point in the record of humanity, that one of us would not be given over to death forever.
We need someone who can not only stand above the rest of humanity, because this could apply to just an individual. You would think we need someone who not only can stand above the rest of humanity, but who can also bring people to God. Otherwise, we could say, well, that's great for that person, but what ,what about the rest of the world? Is there hope for the world here? We need someone who can realize our human destiny and make it possible that we can become who we were created to be: men and women who share in the holiness of God and who can live with him forever.
That destiny was forsaken by Adam and Eve, but Jesus is born to achieve it. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, for as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. And the all there that Paul means is those who turn to Christ. Anyone who turns to Christ can begin a new life. Not just in the quality of this current life that we enjoy now, but in this life which is to come through the resurrection of the dead.
The baby born in the manger was born to accomplish this. Only the son of God can help us. Only him, because no mere human is up to the task. All of us are corrupted by sin, guilty, and unable to defeat death. Not one of us can save ourselves, nevermind trying to save the rest of the world. As much as we try, people try to say, oh, I'm, I'm gonna be the one. I have the plan to save the world. Everyone always fails. It's always a constant disappointment 'cause none of us are up to the task.
But because Jesus is God, he can. We are held captive by death because of sin. The wages of sin is death, we're told that in Romans 6: 23. That's said right in the beginning, in Genesis.
Jesus breaks the power of death because the sentence of death cannot hold onto him. Now, Hebrews here, Hebrews two here says that he breaks the power of him who holds the power of death-- that is the devil. And maybe you're wondering, well, what does the devil have to do with this? The devil's role in all this is he is the one who led humanity astray, and he led humanity astray for the purpose that we might be condemned. That he might stand before God and say, that person has no business being in your presence. They should be destroyed. All of them should be destroyed. What now about your human creation, those you created to reflect your holiness your goodness? They look nothing like you. The devil is our accuser.
In Revelation 12:10, it talks about how he is the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, and there's substance to his accusations. The devil's accusations are based upon real sin that is, is present in our lives, real guilt.
But Jesus breaks Satan's power. When he dies, he's unlike the rest of us. He's sinless. He dies not for his sins, but for the sins of others, which is just another demonstration of his righteousness, and so the sentence does not stick to him.
Only the son of God. Only the son of God could live that life and bear that penalty and yet overcome it. Only the son of God can make of himself a ransom, a gift of reparation, an atoning sacrifice that would be a sufficient to make amends, to make up for all the sins of humanity.
Because of this, who can make a bigger sacrifice than God himself? That's what God does in sending his son. He makes the biggest sacrifice ever made. And God, being true to himself, satisfies and reveals both his perfect mercy and his perfect justice in Jesus.
Justice, because Jesus bears our curse and yet offers up the life we're all supposed to live-- mercy, because since Jesus did not stay dead, because he lives, we can be reconciled to God through him.
The son of God was born Jesus of Nazareth so he could be our great high priest. Maybe you're not familiar with how the priestly system worked in ancient Israel, the tribe of, of the tribe of Levi there were those called to be priests, and they served as representatives for the people in coming before God's presence in the temple and the high priest into the Holy of Holies before the mercy seat of the arl of the covenant. These priests act as representatives because the people are sinful. They cannot come into the presence of a holy God. And so the priest would cleanse himself, and the priest would in fact have to offer sacrifices for himself in order to come before God's presence to make amends for the people through animal sacrifices. But animal sacrifices could never actually fix, fix things. But these are signposts, they're foreshadowing what was to come in Jesus.
What we have in Jesus is the Son of God, and bringing humanity upon himself now brings humanity into the presence of God. He restores that relationship. It is in him that our standing and future with God is entire entirely bound up.
And this is why Jesus says in John 14, six is, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Just notice how radical a declaration that is. You can't say Jesus is just a good teacher when he says something like that. Imagine if I said something like that. You'd be like, wow, Tom's on an ego trip, because it is not true. It's not true. I can't, I, nor any other human being, can provide the way back to the father, but Jesus can because he is the son of God. And so he is the way, the truth and the life.
The son comes to us so that we might come to the Father. Why? Because God loves us. That's what we see at Christmas-- God loves us. We live in a crazy world, it is difficult to make sense of everything that happens. Jesus is our light in the darkness. For all that we can't understand, we can know that God loves us because Jesus Christ is born. God has given us our Savior, who defeated sin, defeated death, and who offers us new life in himself. Remember what the Apostle John says, remember God sent his son into the world that we might live through Him.
You are not alone when you're struggling, when you're facing temptation, you are not alone. It says in verse 18, Hebrews two, that Jesus is able to help those who are being tempted. Why? Because he suffered when he was tempted. He's been in our shoes. That's how much God loves you and me. That the son of God would suffer, be rejected and despised, that he would die on the cross, all so that the gap might be closed, the divide bridged, the wound healed. God didn't send us a card. He sent us his Son, so that we could be with him, never to be separated again. This is how God has shown his love for us, and so I bring this reminder to you, for those of you who've already put your faith in Christ, of the Father's love for you, that we enjoy communion with God through Jesus Christ, our great high priest, and what we have tasted now is just going to be fulfilled all the more when Jesus comes again. He has come once, he's going to come again.
And I also bring this message, if you've not let Christ in yet. He's standing at the door knocking. Imagine the scene, people are coming over to your house for the holidays. Christ is knocking at the door. Are you going to let him in sit at the table with you? That's God's desire. He wants to know you. He wants you to know him and to spend eternity with him. All we need to do in order to let him is, is to confess our need for him, to say, yeah, I can't do life without you. Say, yes, I'm, I'm going to trust in you to make things right, to be my savior, to cover my sins, to deliver me from death, to lead me into life everlasting with God. And so as we pray, I, I invite you just to meditate on the father's love for you and to put your trust in Christ if you've not done that. Let's pray.
Dear Father, thank you for this great gift. The gift of your love given to us in the person of your son, that you desire for us to be with you. That you have not cast us aside, that you have desired to make us your sons and daughters, even while we had rebelled and wanted to make ourselves sons and daughters of the devil.
Father fill us with renewed appreciation and joy among us who have already put our trust in Christ. As we go through this season of celebration, maybe we have different disappointments in various regards. Father, help us to enjoy deep abiding satisfaction. Because we have everything we need in Jesus Christ.
And Father, for those of us who are at kind of this tipping point of letting Christ in, father, help us to take the next step to confess our need for Christ, to trust in him as our savior and receive that great gift of yourself and the assurance that we will spend eternity with you. Father, we give you praise in the name of our king, our savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)